


There's No Place Like Home

by HappyDogDay



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Brad Davis Is A Jerk, Canon Compliant, Court Rooms, F/M, Flash Thompson Redemption, Human Experimentation, Hurt Peter Parker, Identity Reveal, Isolation, Law, Minor Happy Hogan/May Parker (Spider-Man), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Peter Parker Needs a Break, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Police, Post-Spider-Man: Far From Home, The Raft Prison (Marvel), legal talk that's probably not true, people aren't nice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:41:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25933795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappyDogDay/pseuds/HappyDogDay
Summary: Peter hadn’t resisted when they’d burst through the front door of his home. He knew they were coming. He knew hiding would be useless and he didn’t want to delay the inevitable. They hadn’t even bothered knocking.Peter knew from here on out that nothing would ever be the same again. His identity was out in the open, the police were knocking on his door and there was no where to go. From here on out, Peter's life was never going to be the same.
Relationships: Michelle Jones/Peter Parker
Comments: 152
Kudos: 279





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this is my first fic! The delay till Spider-Man 3 is killing me, so I've decided to attempt to make my own version. I hope you all like it!

Peter hadn’t resisted when they’d burst through the front door of his home. He knew they were coming. He knew hiding would be useless and he didn’t want to delay the inevitable. They hadn’t even bothered knocking. 

Peter had been sitting on the couch with May holding his hand. His face had been steely and expressionless because he knew he had to be strong for May who was crying beside him. He’d called Happy and Happy had advised him to not resist and that they were going to sort it out. This wouldn’t last forever. Peter would one day walk free. 

In the meantime, he knew he would have to submit to the government. 

When they’d burst through the door, he hardly even flinched. He’d heard them coming and he and May knew to get themselves ready. The news was playing on TV, the same clips repeating over and over again as the police broke down his door, their guns raised.

“Hands up where we can see them!” They seemed to scream in unison as Peter stood and turned to face them. He raised his hands showing them he meant no harm as they charged forward, a group of eight sturdily built police officers dressed up to the max. 

“Peter Parker, we’re placing you under arrest for the murder of Quentin Beck a.k.a. Mysterio, terrorism, and breaking the Sokovia Accords,” the second officer told him as he continued to recite his Miranda rights to him. 

The first officer was quick to clamp his hands tightly into cuffs, and despite knowing not to resist, Peter couldn’t help the panic that was slowly starting to build inside of him. He was afraid. 

“It’s going to be okay, Pete. We’ll get you out of this.” May called to him as he was dragged from the apartment. May followed them close behind, trying to get to him, the tears streaming from her eyes. 

Peter looked back at her in panic as the first police officer tugged on the chain of his handcuffs harshly nearly tripping him up.

Out in the hallway, crowds had gathered from their apartments. They had all heard the commotion and had come to see Peter being dragged out of the apartment. 

Like a procession, they made their way out of Peter’s apartment building and down to the street where vans were waiting for Peter. People had crowded the streets, and Peter watched as people recorded his arrest. 

“I love you, Pete. This isn’t going to be forever.” May shouted as the first police officer roughly tugged on his arms again.

“Shut your mouth,” another police officer told her as he shoved her away causing her to fall to the ground. 

“May!” Peter shouted as he pulled his hands out of the first officer’s grasp and ran back to help her. 

Before he could get any closer to her, a harsh pain exploded across his back and legs and he fell to the ground. Unable to stop his fall due to his cuffs, Peter felt his arms and chin scrape up in the fall. He turned his head to look at the police officer and saw the man had switched his gun for a baton and realised that was what had caused his pain. The officer raised his arm to strike him one more time.

“Stop!” Someone in the crowd called, “he was just going to check on his family. You don’t need to hit him anymore.”

“Peter, I’m okay. It’s okay.” May whispered to him, wriggling closer to him from her place on the ground. “Remember to ask for your call and a lawyer. Happy’s gonna get you the best of the best.”

“I love you,” Peter told her as a few tears slipped down his cheek.

“I love you, too,” May replied as Peter was hauled to his feet and shoved roughly into the back of the van. 

He was only sixteen, but it already felt like his world was ending. Even if he got out of this mess, his life was never going to be the same again. 

  
  


Peter was shaking as he sat in the back of the police van. Two officers sat in the front of the van, whilst four sat around him in the back of the van. Despite everything that he knew he could do, he was terrified. He desperately wished Tony could have been with him at this moment, knowing that Tony would have had a solution for this. This would have never happened if Tony had been here. Beck would have never happened with Tony. 

He leaned back in his seat in the van and wondered about Ned and MJ. He’d left MJ in the middle of the city surrounded by so many people. She’d screamed for him to run, to get out of there as the crowds had gathered around the lamppost he’d been standing on. 

When he’d swung away, he’d known he wouldn’t have a lot of time before they’d come looking for him. He’d called Happy, but Happy was already on it. He told him to go home and that they would sort it. 

After that he’d called Ned. It was the quietest conversation he’d ever had with Ned. The other boy had wished him luck, and told Peter that he would always be there for him and would always be his guy in the chair. 

Thinking about it all made tears want to spring to his eyes, but he wouldn’t let these men see him at his weakest. He may only be 16 years old, but he was Spider-man. He could do this. He would survive this and he would come out the other side an innocent man. 

  
  
  


“They beat him as he was being hauled into the van,” Pepper replied calmly into the phone as the news played quietly in the background.

There were voices of defence that could be quietly heard on the other line.

“He wasn’t resisting arrest at all. He was checking on his aunt, which your guys pushed to the ground.” Pepper sighed, frustrated. “Well, whatever you say, that footage is not being taken down. I don’t even know why you called me about it.”

Pepper hung up the phone and heaved a breath. When she woke up this morning, this was not how she planned on her day going. 

Morgan peaked from behind the wall, and Pepper replaced her frustration with a smile. Happy had gotten in touch with their best lawyers, so she knew Peter was in the best hands for now.

“Mommy?” Morgan started unsure. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, sweetie. Peter is just having a hard time now,” Pepper explained and opened her arms for a hug she knew Morgan would be jumping into.

“Peter will be okay?” Morgan asked.

“For sure. Uncle Happy is looking after him.” Pepper reassured her as she placed a kiss on Morgan’s head. Pepper was going to look after the kid no matter what it took. He wasn’t going to go down for this. 

  
  


Peter had been in police stations before. He’d come in before when Ben had died, and he’d needed to answer questions, but he’d never been the bad guy at the police station before. He’d never needed to see the looks people had given before as he was walked in to be booked. The scrapes on his body from his fall were itching, but he knew that was just because they were healing. 

“Peter Parker,” One of the officers told the officer behind the reception desk. 

“Parker,” The officer called, and Peter read his name tag, noting the name of Rogers. 

“Yes, sir,” Peter answered as his eyes travelled to look at the face of the man who was going to book him into the police station.

“Can you confirm your full name for me?” Rogers asked.

“Peter Parker,” Peter confirmed, his throat suddenly feeling dry.

“And your date of birth?” Rogers continued.

“August 10th, 2001.” Peter answered, automatically. 

“Okay, Peter. You’re officially being booked in for the murder of Quentin Beck, a.k.a. Mysterio, terrorism and breaking the Sokovia Accords, do you understand that?” Rogers asked him, and Peter could hear the gentleness in his voice.

“I do.” Peter answered, “but I didn’t do it.”

“That’s for the courts to decide, unfortunately.” Rogers told him, before proceeding to ask him for any personal properties such as his phone and watch. Peter handed over everything as he was asked. 

Rogers explained to him that he would now be led into the back rooms where he would get his picture taken, finger prints, health screenings and body searches completed before they would place him in a cell where he would await his lawyer and his court hearing. 

“Do you understand?” Rogers asked.

“I do,” Peter answered shakily as he was led to the back rooms. 

Peter stood still as his picture was taken and his fingerprint taken, but stopped dead when he was ordered to take off his clothes.

“Why?” Peter asked nervously.

“We need to do a body search to make sure you aren’t concealing anything.” The officer explained to him, as he pulled gloves on his hands. 

“I’m not concealing anything.” Peter told him quickly.

“If I believed everyone who told me that, then there wouldn’t be any point to this.” The officer huffed in reply.

“Isn’t there some rules? I’m a minor.” Peter replied, not wanting to get naked in front of this man.

“We have to perform this search if we believe you could be concealing anything.” The man replied gentler. “Let’s make this a bit more comfortable. My name is Nick Allam, no one else is looking in here, it’s going to be just me and you.”

Peter looked at the two officers flanking him, and gulped.

“They’ll leave. No matter what kind of person you are, everyone deserves as much dignity as possible.” Nick told him. 

“I don’t have a choice, do I?” Peter sighed, his breathing quickening slightly.

“Unfortunately not,” Nick told him. “Right, guys, out for now. I’ll call for you when it’s done.”

The officers grunted and quickly walked out of the room. Peter knew they would be hiding just on the other side of the door. There really was no escape from this situation. 

“Let’s start, shall we?” Nick asked, prompting Peter, “take off all your clothes, including underwear and socks, please.

Peter sighed as he started undressing, feeling his cheeks heat up as he started pulling his boxers down. He was humiliated as he was led to the plastic examination bed. He knew this was a moment he would never live down. He wanted to be so angry. Angry at Beck, angry at the police, angry at himself, but all he could gather were tears. He wanted Tony and he wanted to go home. 

  
  
  


_ “Peter Parker placed under arrest and has been detained,” _ the newscaster read as the footage replayed of Peter being arrested. Ned had been watching the same footage for hours. Peter had been captured, people had been arrested. His heart pounded heavily in his chest. His mother sat next to him, still and silent. Ned couldn’t work out what she was thinking. His mother had always been pretty vocal in all her opinions, but this one seemed to silence her. 

Ned felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, and knew it was the Academic Decathlon group chat. It had exploded when the news had been announced about Peter was Spider-Man and hadn’t stopped since. Ned turned his eyes slowly from the screen and looked at his phone. 

_ Betty: What are we gonna do? _

_ Abe: Is there anything we can do? _

_ Cindy: Ned? MJ?  _

_ Betty: yeah, any info? What’s happening? _

Ned sighed. He had no information. Nothing more than what they knew. He knew Happy and Pepper were working on it. May was keeping him as updated as she could, but this was a hard situation for her, too. 

“Did you know about him being Spider-Man?” His mother eventually asked, breaking the rhythm of the newscasters.

“I did,” Ned answered, not seeing the point in lying. 

“Did he do it?” His mother asked.

“Kill Beck?” Ned checked, he was nervous and waited for his mother’s nod, “no. Peter’s not like that. Beck got shot by his own drones.”

His mother nodded and suddenly stood. 

“Let’s order out for dinner today. I don’t want to cook.” His mother told him and walked away to grab menus. 

His phone buzzed. 

It was May

_ May: Peter’s court hearing is set for tomorrow at 4pm. Happy will pick you up at 2pm.  _

_ Ned: okay. Is Peter okay? _

_ May: they won’t tell us anything. His lawyer just spoke with him and said he was shaken up. They insisted on a full body search.  _

_ Ned: What??!! _

_ May: my thoughts. See you tomorrow. _

Ned stared at his phone in shock. He wasn’t even sure he could eat anything as he listened to his mother order food on the phone next to him.

_ Ned: May just text me. _

Ned replied to the Academic Decathlon group chat.

_ Betty: and? _

_ Ned: his court hearing is tomorrow at 4pm. May said he was shaken. _

_ Abe: nobody messes with the acadec team and gets away with it. Are you going? _

_ Ned: yes. _

Ned closed the group chat and opened his messages to MJ.

_ Ned: come to my house for 1.30pm tomorrow. _

_ MJ: I’ll be there _

Ned put his phone down and turned his eyes back to the TV. All this for his friend. Tomorrow he would see his friend and he would let him know that everyone stood beside him. This was not the end. 


	2. Chapter 2

Peter sat in his cell the next day, his knee jittering nervously as he waited to be taken to court. His lawyer had visited him this morning and they’d discussed how he was going to plead. 

It had apparently been leaked to the press that his hearing was going to happen today, so his lawyer told him to be prepared for a frenzy. 

Peter looked down at his suit, one that his lawyer had brought for him from Pepper. It fit too well for something that had been bought overnight and Peter wondered when she had the time to get his measurements, or get a miracle worker to get the suit for him. It definitely wasn’t one that he had owned before. 

His night in his cell hadn’t been very relaxing. His mind had constantly been active, thinking of possibilities and he’d been nervous. He’d been placed in the highest security part of this prison, because of who he was and what he was accused of doing. They weren't taking any chances with him. 

His bed had been uncomfortable and the sheets were itchy. He couldn’t hear May breathing in the room down the hall, and he’d been anxious. Every hour on the dot, someone had come to check on him to make sure he was sleeping, or at least still in his room. It had disturbed him every time.

His senses had been going crazy all night and all day. He felt strung out and exhausted. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could take this. He wanted to fall into May’s arms and never leave. He wanted Ned. He wanted MJ. He just wanted to be normal again. 

Last night had been the first time since the spider bite that he wished that he’d never been on that field trip. For the first time ever, he had hated being Spider-Man. 

Looking up at the ceiling, Peter wished the time would go faster. He knew he was being picked up at 3pm so that they could get to the courthouse on time, so he knew someone would be with him soon. He just hated waiting. 

“Parker!” Rogers called as he opened the door to Peter’s cell. Peter stood quickly and turned to face the officer, glad in some respects that it was the sympathetic sounding officer that was going to be escorting. “I’m going to be taking you to the courthouse today. We will set up a guard of four officers to surround you in public. This is for the safety of the public and for yourself.”

Peter nodded to show that he understood.

“I’m going to place you in these cuffs now,” Roger informed him, and Peter held his hands out ready to take the cuffs. He hated the feeling of the cold metal snapping into place. He knew he could break them easy enough if he wanted to, but Happy’s words of ‘don’t resist’ replayed over and over in his head. It was the only thing that got him through the body search and every other test they had put him through yesterday. 

He could deal with the cuffs. He could deal with the courthouse. 

“Let’s go.” Rogers said to fill the quiet as he led Peter out of the cell door.

  
  
  


Ned and MJ were waiting inside the house. They were quiet, but they weren’t sure what to say to each other to fill the time. MJ had come early, but Happy was due any moment now. 

“Happy’s never late, so he’ll be here soon.” Ned told her. He could see the worry lines on MJ’s face, and like himself, he was sure she probably hadn’t slept a wink the night before. He had been too stressed. There were too many things going on to even think about sleeping. 

Someone in the police station had leaked the time and location of Peter’s hearing, and Happy had informed them to be wary of any media. Luckily, no one had come knocking on Ned’s door yet, but he was sure that was going to start soon. Eventually, people were going to want to fixate on Peter’s home life. There was already a constant group of people outside May’s home. He’d seen the pictures of it on twitter. It was chaos outside Peter’s home, a mixture of people who believed Peter was innocent and people who thought he was guilty. 

Ned couldn’t wait to prove Peter’s innocence. 

There was a car honking outside, and Ned looked out the window and saw Happy getting out of a car that was more like a small limo. He had seen Peter getting in and out of that car before.

“Let’s go.” Ned said, and opened the door to let MJ out. 

“Do you think we’ll be able to talk to him?” MJ asked gripping the flower necklace like her life depended on it.

“I don’t know.” Ned answered, but he was hoping so, too. He needed to be able to speak to Peter, but he knew he might have to just see, and he would have to be happy with just that for now. 

“Are you ready?” Happy asked as they approached the car. 

“Yeah.” Ned answered as he stepped into the car. Pepper and May were already sitting inside the car. 

Happy closed the door and got back into the driver's seat.

“Ned, MJ. How are you?” May asked them, putting a smile on for the two teenages.

“As good as can be expected.” Ned told her.

“Same.” MJ replied.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Ned and MJ. Peter spoke very highly of you both.” Pepper told them with a smile. 

“It’s nice to meet you, too, Miss Potts.” MJ replied, turning her eyes to the window. She knew they were going to get there early.

“Peter will be leaving the jail at 3pm.” Pepper supplied, “if he gets here with enough time to spare, we might be able to snag him for a few minutes, but I can’t guarantee it. It’s not normal protocol, but the Avengers are owed a few favors.”

“Thank you, Pepper.” May told her, her eyes shining with tears. 

“Today is going to be a hard day. I’m not sure who leaked it to the media, but remember to not answer any questions and we should get through today okay.” Pepper informed, “the lawyer said today is the easy day. Peter just has to enter his plea. The only difficulties we can see coming up is his age.”

“His age?” Ned asked.

“Peter’s technically a minor.” Pepper replied, “but we think the prosecution is going to ask to try him as an adult.” 

“Can they do that?” May asked, her voice wavering.

“I guess we’ll find out today.” Pepper replied, but MJ knew they could. She’d read on it before. 

  
  
  
  


Peter’s breath was shaky as the police van pulled up at the courthouse. He could hear the media outside, it was truly a frenzy. In some kind of stroke of luck, he had to enter from the back, but the media were ready for him.

As he was led out of the back of the van, despite the media being behind a gated fence, still went crazy. Cameras were flashing all over, people were screaming, and Peter felt his heart rate increasing as he was led excruciatingly slowly from the van to the back entrance of the courthouse. He was sure they were doing this on purpose so that the media got more out of him than they needed to. 

Finally, they entered the building and an immediate silence fell on Peter’s ears. His escort of police guards began to lead him through the tunnels and corners of the building. Rogers led the pack from the front. 

“Just on this right, please.” Rogers announced suddenly. “I think Mr. Parker will require a few minutes to collect himself before he sets off to his courtroom. I’ll accompany him, please wait here.”

The police guards grunted in assent, and Rogers led Peter into a secluded room on the right hand side. 

Inside the room was a long meeting table, Peter assumed this could perhaps be a room where the jury decided whether someone was guilty or not. 

The biggest surprise, however, were the people sitting in the chairs of the room. Peter looked around slowly, his eyes welling up with tears. 

“Peter!” They all shouted and ran towards him.

May reached him first and gave him the strongest hug ever, which was followed by Ned, Pepper and Happy. It was a little bit awkward as he couldn’t hug them back with the cuffs on, but it still felt comforting and warm. Peter looked to MJ and felt his tears roll down his face. 

“MJ,” he whispered and before he could say anything else, MJ’s lips were on his. He smiled into the kiss before they separated. 

“I missed you,” she whispered to him.

“I missed you, too,” He told her.

“Are you okay?” May asked Peter, running her hand down his arm.

“As I’ll ever be.” Peter answered her.

“You’re going to be okay. We’re working on our evidence to get you out of this. The prosecution has nothing to stand on.” Pepper reassured him.

“Besides that one video.” Peter replied.

“One doctored video.” Happy told him sternly. 

“I don’t think they’re going to go down easily.” Peter told them, “something feels very off about this.”

“What do you mean?” Ned asked.

“I don’t know. I can just feel it. Something isn’t right here.” Peter admitted, it was a thought that had been bugging him. Something definitely wasn’t right about it.

“Whatever it is, it’s definitely not the government. I’m not sure they could face the backlash of sending a child into a war zone.” Pepper sighed.

“But they didn’t know about me.” Peter replied.

“Maybe not, but the government certainly knew that Spider-Man wasn't old. It doesn’t look good for them, either.” Pepper sighed. 

“There’s not a lot of time.” Rogers reminded them.

They all nodded turning to each other.

“You know how today is going to go?” May checked with him, looking Peter in the eye.

“Yeah, Neil, the lawyer, told me about what to do.” Peter reassured her.

“Good, we’ll be in the room with you. We’re not going to leave until it’s all over.” May told him.

“We’ll be here for everything.” Ned joined, and MJ nodded in support.

“We’d never leave you.” Happy added. 

Peter felt the love and warmth of the room, and despite his earlier thoughts, he knew he could never take any of this back. Without Spider-Man, he would never have built such a larger family. 

“There will be some media in the room this afternoon, so just remember to keep calm. Nothing bad will happen today.” Pepper told him, as she pulled out her phone.

“Okay.” Peter answered.

“It’s time to go, Parker. The court will be starting soon.” Rogers told him as he moved to grab Peter’s cuffs once more. 

“We love you, Pete.” May called as Peter began to make his way out of the room.

“I love you, too.” Peter called back. 

Outside the door stood his police guard. They looked like they hadn’t moved a muscle in the time he’d been gone. 

“What time is it?” Peter asked Rogers as they began to make their way towards his courtroom.

“It’s 3.45pm,” Rogers answered.

Fifteen minutes. This was all the time he had left before he would be facing his first time in the courtroom. He knew for sure that it was going to end in a trial. There was no way he was going to walk away from this. The only thing he could hope for was that he could walk away on bail until the trial. 

“Let’s do this,” Peter whispered to himself. 

“I hope it works out for you, kid.” Rogers told him as he opened the door leading to the courtroom. Opened the door on what he knew was going to be the next part of his life. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I've read through it myself a good few times, but as you know, you never catch all the mistakes...
> 
> I'm actually quite a way ahead with this fic (I say that, I'm like halfway through chapter 13), but I'm thinking I'll update once a week to keep that nice gap. My life is super busy at the moment, so I don't always have a lot of time for writing, especially now with my Korean classes on Saturdays...
> 
> But, before I ramble too much. Here's my [tumblr](https://happydogday.tumblr.com/) and I hope you have a happy Sunday!


	3. Chapter 3

Peter gulped as he was led into the room. Instantly, the white noise of the crowd in the room took over and Peter tried hard to hide the flinch that spasmed through his body as it hit his sensitive senses. 

There were TV crews placed around the room and Peter wondered how they managed to even get into the room or why they had been allowed. He wasn’t too savvy on criminal proceedings, but this seemed like people were being bribed. 

The courtroom itself was bland, white walls and wood furnishings. Nothing like he’d seen in movies, where there had been ornate podiums and desks. Peter could see where the judge would sit at the front of the room, elevated like some god above the rest. Books lined the back bench of the room, all of them thick and Peter was sure they were filled with legal jargon he currently wouldn’t understand. 

Peter was sitting down in a chair at the front of the room, his hands left inside the cuffs as the room prepared for the judge’s entrance. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Pepper, May, Ned, MJ and Happy enter, but he tried not to pay them too much attention. He knew turning back to look at them now would only make him cry and that was something that he wished to avoid for as long as possible. 

Above the judge’s seat was a clock, and Peter noted the time of 3.55pm. It was almost time for his hearing to start and Peter vaguely registered the sound of cameras clicking in the distance, capturing his picture ready to be distributed as fast as possible. 

In front of the judge’s podium was a typist, she had already begun to record what was happening in the room and he felt her stare as she typed. Her shirt was offwhite from overuse, and clung tightly to her frame. Next to her was a glass of water. 

Peter’s eyes trailed around his desk, next to him was his lawyer Neil, and two glasses of water. One was presumably for him, the other for Neil. His police guard had moved to the side of the room. The four who had escorted him watched him in silence, their stares piercing through him. It was like they were expecting him to pull something funny with all the cameras watching. 

“All rise.” Peter heard someone call and stood on his feet automatically. From a door to the side of the podium, she appeared. This was Peter’s judge. Neil had told him her name was Judge Kennedy. 

Once Judge Kennedy was sitting everyone took their seats once again. 

“Thank you for coming,” the judge started, “we are here today for the preliminary hearing of Peter Parker vs the state.”

Peter’s mouth suddenly felt like the desert, the situation suddenly feeling all too real. He shakily reached forward and grabbed his glass of water. It was awkward with his hands in cuffs, but he took a quick drink before placing the glass back down on the table. 

The judge moved her paper around on her desk and Peter kind of wished she would get it over with.

“Peter Parker.” The judge called and Peter stood, “you have been charged with murder, terrorism and breaking the Sokovia Accords. Do you wish to enter a plea?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Peter answered, his hands shaking.

“And what do you plea on the first count of murder?”

“Not guilty.” Peter replied.

“And on the second count of terrorism?”

“Not guilty.”

“And of the charge of breaking the Sokovia Accords?”

“Not guilty.”

“You are entering this plea of your own free will and understand the ramifications?” The judge asked, her eyebrows raised.

“I am.” Peter responded, nervously rubbing his hands together. There was a quiet in the courtroom that had not been there previously and Peter felt the stares of everyone in the room.

“You may sit.” The judge ordered, “does the prosecution have anything to say?”

“The prosecution would like to request Peter Parker be tried as an adult.” Peter could practically hear the pindrop. He heard the way that his Aunt May's heart rate sped up. He felt his own heartbeat increase. 

"Peter Parker is legally a minor." The judge stated. 

"Your honor, the nature of the crime demands that it be treated with as much seriousness as possible and Mr. Parker is prosecuted to the full extent of the law." The prosecution argued, "Peter Parker is an enhanced, he possesses strength and abilities no normal child should possess." 

"Being enhanced does not exempt him from the rights to a fair trial." The judge replied calmly. 

"One could perhaps argue that Mr. Parker does not warrant any kind of human rights." The prosecution quipped and Peter felt his jaw drop. "Peter Parker committed an atrocity that requires investigating and punishing to the full extent of the law. We, the prosecution, do not believe rehabilitation will solve this problem. Only punishment."

The judge sighed and Peter knew he had lost this battle.

"I accept your reasoning." The judge sighed. 

Peter felt like time had frozen. He didn't know what to do. He felt like he was panicking. 

"Peter Parker will be tried as an adult, due to the nature of his crimes," the judge started and Peter felt his whole world shatter. Behind him he heard May start to cry. "Mr. Parker will be remanded to the Raft. The only prison capable of holding people of his kind. There will be no opportunity of bail. A trial date will be set shortly."

Peter felt faint. This was not supposed to happen. Neil had never warned him of this. He'd heard the rumours about the Raft. He'd heard how horrible it was. He couldn't go there. He didn't want to go there. 

Suddenly and unwanted tears sprang to his eyes. 

"Court is dismissed." The judge called as she stood to leave the room.

Peter broke down. Happy told him to not resist, but he had never wanted to run away as much as he had now. 

When Peter did not stand up immediately, one of his police guards appeared and roughly tugged him to his feet. 

"We're going to fix this." Ned suddenly shouted across the room, causing all the cameras to turn in his and Peter's directions. 

"Peter is innocent. We'll prove it to you all." MJ added, angry tears at the corner of his eyes. 

Peter broke free from the officer's hold and ran across the courtroom, jumping over the low fencing separating him from his family. 

He snapped the cuffs and reached for his friends. Pulling them close into a hug as police ran towards him.

"I love you," he whispered to them as he was pulled back. A baton appeared out of nowhere and struck him on the side.

"Look after May!" Peter called as the police wrestled him onto his stomach, one officer kneeling painfully on his back, another holding his head down. New cuffs were tightened around his wrists and Peter was pulled to his feet. His shoulders pulling in strange and painful directions. 

Tears streamed down his face as he was dragged from the room, not given a chance to get his footing correctly. Dragged out in front of the press who lapped up every moment, knowing from this moment he was doomed. 

  
  
  


Eugene ‘Flash’ Thompson had spent the last two days sitting in shock. He’d been one of the first on the Daily Bugle when that video had dropped. When everything he thought he knew had been turned over. He’d been made a fool of, by none other than Peter Parker. 

Flash had ignored everything. He’d ignored the incessant chatter of their Academic Decathlon chat. He’d ignored his own parents. He’d only emerged from his room to eat, and nothing else. 

He’d watched in silence as videos of Peter cuffed in a suit was broadcasted all over the television as he arrived to his court hearing. Flash remembered thinking how sad and tired he looked. How he barely even resembled the same Peter Parker that he had seen in school.

But, Peter Parker hadn’t looked like the happy Peter Parker for a long time. Not since before the blip. The more Flash thought back on Peter Parker, it was almost like he could pinpoint the moment that he changed, and that was after the war with Thanos. The war that Flash knew Spider-Man had been a part of. 

Peter was only 16, but he had already fought in one of the biggest wars on the planet. 

Flash watched as Peter’s hearing was live streamed, how he pleaded not guilty. Flash never doubted for a moment that Peter had actually done anything that he had been accused of. 

He watched as Peter found out he was going to be sent to the Raft and Flash was confused because he wasn’t entirely certain what the Raft was. He watched as Ned and MJ called for him. He watched as Peter broke free and ran to them. 

He watched in horror as Peter was beaten down and subdued. 

Peter was 16.

Peter was a hero. 

Peter was Spider-Man. 

Flash stood from his desk chair. He couldn’t watch anymore. 

He was Spider-Man’s number 1 fan, surely there was something he could do. 

Flash turned to his phone and opened the Academic Decathlon group chat.

_ Flash: What’s the Raft? _

_ Betty: Ned probably knows. _

_ Abe: someone’s decided to join the party. _

_ Flash: we have to help him.  _

_ Betty: in case you missed it, we’ve been trying to figure that out. _

_ Cindy: there’s not actually a lot we can do _

_ Flash: Peter didn’t kill Beck.  _

_ Betty: We know that _

_ Abe: Let’s just wait for Ned or MJ to fill us in.  _

_ Betty: Yeah, let us know, please! _   
  
  


“What’s the Raft?” MJ asked as soon as they’d re-entered the safety of the car. The crowds that had surrounded them as they’d exited the courthouse had been massive and it had taken a lot to get back to their car. 

Pepper shared a look with Happy, knowing that this was going to be a hard conversation.

“The Raft is a super-max prison.” Pepper started gently.

“It’s hell.” Happy told them bluntly. “It’s a prison for enhanced and seriously uncontrollable criminals. Everyone dangerous goes to the Raft. It’s cut off from the outside, on an isolated island. It used to be a place where they were put in solitary 23 hours a day, but I hear that’s been relaxed slightly in recent years.”

May broke down sobbing.

“Peter’s going there?” Ned asked shakily.

“Unfortunately.” Pepper told them, “Tony visited it once after everything happened with Captain America. He hated it. It’s not a place for people like Peter.”

“He’s going to have to learn that the people there aren’t going to be nice to him.” Happy added sadly.

“Is Toomes there?” Ned asked, looking at Pepper and Happy.

“I don’t know.” Happy answered honestly, “he was elsewhere whilst waiting for his trial, but he could have been moved. I never kept track of him.”

“Hopefully Peter doesn’t have to share with him.” Ned answered, turning to look at his hands as they were driven home. 

Ned and MJ were going back to Ned’s apartment block, whilst May was going back to her home. The police had promised her a guard outside her home, but it wasn’t going to be for forever. Pepper had offered for her to come with her and live at the lake house whilst they sorted everything out, but May had refused. She needed to keep the apartment together for when Peter got back. He would need some kind of normalcy. 

They slowly pulled up in front of Ned’s home, and Ned was pleased to note that they hadn’t been tracked down yet. There was no one crowding, which gave Ned and MJ a good opportunity to try and set something out. 

“Thank you for the ride, Happy.” Ned started.

“It’s no problem.” Happy reassured, looking at them through the rearview mirror. 

“You’ll keep us updated, right? We want to know as much as you know.” MJ asked, her old confidence starting to slip in.

“We will.” May reassured her, “Peter would want us to let you know what’s going on.”

“Neil will be with him today as he’s transferred over, and we’ll force them to let Neil keep visitation. If he’s going to trial he has his legal rights to his lawyer. They can’t keep that away from him.” Pepper explained, a fire to her voice.

“Thank you.” MJ replied before stepping out of the car, closely followed by Ned. They stood on the curb and waved as the car slowly pulled away.

“Let’s go inside.” Ned told her as he gently grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside. 

_ Ned: The Raft is a super-max prison on a remote island. _

Ned had a mission to do. The guy in the chair had to find out more about the Raft. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Sorry if there are any mistakes, I tried to catch them all but this week has literally been the worst week in existence, so I've probably missed like a thousand. 
> 
> I hope everyone else's week has been better than mine! 
> 
> I've never actually seen a court hearing, so please ignore how everything is inaccurate :(


	4. Chapter 4

The officers had been particularly rough with him after he'd escaped. After he'd been given new cuffs and dragged through the courthouse, they'd gripped painfully hard on his upper arms all the way to the van. 

Even as they'd entered the van, they'd shoved him making sure he fell on his hands and knees. 

Peter knew running to Ned and MJ was going to be a bad idea, but he'd needed to go to them. He couldn't stop himself. 

He didn't regret what he'd done. He would do it again in a heartbeat. 

The ride back in the van was silent. The officers on either side of him didn't attempt to make conversation and Rogers driving in the front looked thoughtful. Peter wondered what he was thinking about. But, deep down, he knew he wasn’t thinking anything good about Peter. Rogers had shown him kindness by letting him see his friends and family, and he’d practically thrown it back in the man’s face. 

Sighing, Peter thought about what was going to happen next. There was a lot to think about. Peter had heard about the Raft from Tony, and knew what he was getting into. Despite everything, he felt calm about going there. It was bound to happen eventually, he was who he was and he was never going to escape that prison. It was probably the only prison that could hold him. 

The only thing he hoped for was that he didn't have to stay there for long. He hoped that he could get to trial and clear his name quickly. 

  
  
  


“Peter, I know you meant well with what you were doing, but breaking out of your handcuffs wasn’t the smartest idea.” Neil scolded him as Peter sat down in the interview chair. 

“I know,” Peter sighed. He didn’t want to argue it.

“Okay, so we don’t have your trial date yet, but you are being remanded at the Raft. The Raft isn’t a nice place, Peter.” Neil started, “we’re getting special privileges as you’re technically a minor, and I will be allowed to come once a week so we can discuss your case.” 

“What kind of special privileges?” Peter asked.

“They won’t say. The Raft is the most secure facility in the world. No information ever comes out of that place.” Neil huffed, frustrated. 

“When will I go to the Raft?” Peter asked, feeling strangely detached.

“Tonight. You will be taken via helicopter to the Raft, whilst it’s lights out so your arrival causes less of a … stir amongst the inmates.” Neil explained, moving to grab his coffee cup. 

“That makes sense, I guess.” Peter agreed. 

“I won’t be able to be there when they take you, but I’ll stay as long as I’m allowed to.” Neil told him, and despite the fact that Peter hadn’t known this lawyer for very long, he felt grateful that the man was with him. Peter had heard of other good lawyers around, too, but Pepper had gotten Neil. 

“How are you feeling?” Neil asked him gently.

“I’m not sure,” Peter explained, “it’s been a pretty sucky year so far, so this feels a bit like the icing on the cake.” 

“Peter, have you considered talking to someone about what you’ve been through?” Neil asked. Neil did genuinely believe Peter to be innocent, and if he hadn’t before, looking at the boy in front of him now would have changed his mind. Peter was strong, but he was also suffering. There was a weight on his shoulders that Neil hadn’t seen on anyone in a long time. 

“I never saw the point before. Why would anyone believe it was real? How could I have started to explain everything that happened in the war, or going to space, what happened with Beck. It was all too much,” Peter answered him with a humourless chuckle. 

“I’ll see if we can arrange something in the Raft for you.” Neil told him.

“I doubt it, but thank you anyway.” Peter answered with sincerity. 

“Is there anything about the case that you think needs to be discussed?” Neil asked him, putting his coffee cup down.

“No,” Peter answered, “you guys are working on the tapes, right?” 

“We are. The EDITH glasses were handed back to Pepper Potts so she could give them to the right officers.” Nick explained.

“Karen might have some videos, too.” Peter added.

“Karen?” Neil asked, grabbing his notebook to make notes.

“My AI in the suit. She used to record everything under the Baby Monitor programme. I’m not sure if she does now that Mr. Stark has died, but she might have something stored.” Peter told him. 

“This isn't the end, Pete.” Neil reassured him, “we have hundreds of witnesses that saw you on the bridge. We’re also going to talk to everyone that was on the field trip. No stone will be left unturned. We’ll prove your innocence, no one will doubt it.”

“I’m glad you have so much faith, sir.” Peter smiled at him, wanting to believe it would be that easy.

“You should have that faith, too, Peter. More people support you than you realise.” Neil said. 

“Time’s up.” A guard called from the other side of the door. Peter looked at the clock above the door and noted it was nearly 9pm.

“You’ve been here a long time,” Peter said to Neil uselessly.

“I told you I’d stay until I couldn’t anymore.” Neil answered with a grin, his shaggy black hair falling in his eyes.

“Can you pass a message on for me?” Peter asked suddenly.

“Sure,” Neil answered.

“Tell May I’m going to be okay.” Peter said, “she’ll be worrying all the time, and I don’t want her to worry. Too much has happened to her.”

Neil nodded, and Peter watched as the police officer walked into the interview room. Peter had been allowed to have his cuffs off whilst he was in here with Neil, so he dutifully held his hands out for them to be snapped back on.

“Never thought I’d see the day I’d be putting cuffs on Spider-Man,” the officer grunted, “and a spider-child nonetheless.”

“Sorry to be a disappointment.” Peter quipped.

“That wasn’t disappointment.” The officer replied, “I believe you. I’m just shocked it got to this point.”

Peter let himself be dragged in silence. That was not what he was expecting to happen. He thought everyone was against him, especially here. He thought he was going to be all alone for the rest of his life.    
  


Roger Harrington had been glued to the television since yesterday. He’d followed every update he could, and had his phone on news alerts for any developments that the television wasn’t showing. He’d even signed up for a Twitter account so that he could keep up to date. 

He was going out of his mind. He knew what had happened in London, he had seen a lot of it for himself. He knew Peter. Peter wouldn’t kill anyone. Harrington had seen Peter at what Roger Harrington would consider the lowest points imaginable, and yet, this happened. 

How he’d never noticed that Peter was moonlighting as Spider-Man this whole time astounded him. The thought hadn’t even crossed his mind. No one had ever even considered trying to find out who Spider-Man was behind the mask, and Roger knew no one would have suspected a sixteen year old high school student. 

There had been a lot of discussions amongst the teachers on what they were going to do moving forward. There were going to be so many questions following the disaster of a school field trip that they had just been through. A few teachers even bringing up the question of whether the things that happened to them had happened because of Peter Parker. 

Roger refused to believe that something like that could have happened purely because of Peter, but watching the news now felt like a deliberate attack. Something wasn’t right. Roger Harrington knew he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the box when it came to understanding people and relationships, but he could see that something was up with this. 

He had heard from Principal Morita that the press had already started asking questions of the school, wanting to know Peter’s attendance, what his schooling was like. Roger had been assured that nothing had been said as of yet, but Morita wasn’t sure how long he could hold everyone off for.

Then there was the police. Harrington knew that they would start calling eventually, and he knew he would be questioned. He knew they were going to have questions for him, despite him not really knowing much of anything at all. 

The whole European field trip was going to come under scrutiny, and Harrington felt slightly embarrassed that he’d allowed things to go as badly as they had.

“What’s done is done.” He told himself, trying to find a steely determination. He just wished he had more information than what the news were providing them with. He wished he could speak to May or Peter himself to find out whether he was okay. 

Where did they go from here? Even if Peter did get cleared of all his charges, Harrington had to wonder if Peter could ever come back to Midtown. Would having Spider-Man at their school cause more of a problem than they could afford to keep? But who was he to deny a child the right to an education. 

Peter’s senior year would be starting soon, and all Harrington could hope for was that everything sorted itself out soon. 

Harrington looked down to his phone one last time, noting that there was a new picture circulating.

_ Peter Parker is now being flown to the Raft prison. _

Harrington didn’t know much about the Raft, but he could tell from the look on Peter’s face that it was not a good place to be. Roger could only hope that he wasn’t going to be held there for too long.    
  


“I think the Raft is more secure than any government facility ever.” Ned sighed as he turned his eyes away from his laptop. It was nearing 10pm, but MJ was still sitting with him in his living room. 

His mother had given them a look, but had not commented further. On some level, Ned knew his mother had seen what had happened today and decided they’d needed a day without too many other obstacles and had left them to it. 

“Nothing?” MJ asked.

“Nada.” Ned confirmed. 

MJ looked back down to her phone and saw ‘Peter Parker Innocent’ trending on twitter. The tag had started trending about 30 minutes after the court hearing, and after the world watched as Peter was beaten down and dragged out of the room. It was hard going, but MJ knew that Peter was winning more people in his favour than he was losing them.

“What do we do now?” MJ asked, people had found her on Twitter and had began to follow her in the tens of thousands, but she had yet to say a word. She’d had to mute all of her notifications because she didn’t want to see them all. 

They’d also found Peter. Every tweet he’d ever made was being scrutinised and discussed all over. She knew Peter had never tweeted a bad thing before in his life, and the last thing he’d posted had been a picture of the two of them, the day after they’d gotten back from Europe.

They’d been over Peter’s home, and Peter had insisted on taking the selfie and posting it. It had now passed five hundred thousand retweets. 

“We prove his innocence.” Ned answered after a while as if it was going to be the easiest thing in the world.

“How do we do that when we don’t even know what we’re up against?” MJ asked.

“We’ll figure something out.” Ned replied, “school will start back soon.”

“It’ll be Peter’s birthday first.” MJ added, a smile on her face.

“We’ll throw a party for him somehow. He may not be able to contact us, but we could write him a letter and give it to Neil.” Ned rambled, the thought coming to his head as he was saying it. 

“Neil should be allowed there in a week, so we can give it to him.” MJ agreed, her eyes lighting up for the first time all evening. 

“Let’s get to it.” Ned confirmed, standing up and running to his room. He needed paper and a pen if they were going to do this. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the new update! 
> 
> I hope you like it :) If you notice any mistakes, please let me know!


	5. Chapter 5

The Raft was scary and imposing as it floated out at sea. Rain battered on the windows of the helicopter, and Peter was somewhat grateful for the headphones placed securely over his ears, blocking out a lot of the noise for him. 

Sat next to him on the helicopter were two armed police officers, their guns were big and poised to strike should Peter even think to move a finger without being given permission. 

Taking a deep breath, Peter closed his eyes briefly as he watched the roof of the prison open up ready to swallow them whole. The Raft was a fortress with untold horrors waiting for him inside. 

Despite everything going on at the moment, Peter desperately wanted to be able to sleep. His head was beginning to pound with exhaustion, and his body felt heavy and lethargic. He didn’t know what time it was, only that it had been late when he’d been brought back out of his cell after being given standard issue prison clothes, consisting of an orange set of pants and shirt, and into the waiting transportation. Peter remembered that it was dark as he exited the prison, and despite the darkness, he could see the flashing lights of the cameras outside as he was walked towards his doom. Capturing every moment of the agony he was sure was plastered all over his face.

The helicopter landed inside the Raft prison, and before he knew it the door was being roughly pulled open. A further 10 guards stood waiting for him outside the helicopter. He was pulled roughly from the helicopter and before he could look around at the surrounding area, he was pulled down a long corridor into a new room.

This new room was too bright, and Peter flinched back at the harsh lighting, noting the hospital bed on one side of the room and various desks and chairs and other gadgets lining the walls. 

“Welcome to the Raft,” a voice called from behind him.

Peter turned to look at the man, noting his grey hair. The man was old, but he wore an expensive navy suit with an even darker tye on his neck. He looked far too dressed up for the time of night it was. 

“I’m Gregory Times,” the man introduced with a smirk on his face, “and I run the Raft. As you probably already know this is the most secure super-max prison in the entire world, and I will be here to oversee how you settle into your new accommodations here.”

Peter nodded at the man, not knowing what to say.

Gregory Times moved around the room, watching Peter, before he moved to play with a few gadgets lying on tabletops around the room.

“We take security very seriously here,” Times began, “so, let's get a few ground rules sorted.”

“Yes, sir.” Peter answered, gulping slightly.

“First rule: you do whatever I say.” Times instructed, “second: there are three meals a day. Breakfast at 7am, lunch at 1pm and dinner at 7pm. Breakfast and lunch is served in your cell, dinner is served in the mess hall where you can socialise with your new friends.”

Peter watched the man carefully, knowing there was more the man wasn’t telling him. 

“As you are a minor, you do have a right to an education, so we will be arranging with your lawyer what to do about that.” Times continued, “but one toe out of line, and your education privileges will be stripped.”

Nodding, Peter waited for what the man was going to say next.

“Due to your enhancements, you will be placed in the strongest level cells. You had friends in here once, Parker, and you will be going where they went.” Times told him, “besides dinner and meetings with your lawyer, you do not get outside privileges. You will sit in your cell, quietly, at all times. One word out of line leads to severe consequences at the Raft. And one more thing.”

Peter didn’t say anything and waited for the man to continue.

“Due to who you are and the nature of your crimes, you will be forced to wear this,” Times told him, holding up what Peter could only describe as a collar. It was made entirely of metal, and it glistened threateningly at Peter. The strip wasn’t thick, it was almost sleek in its design. “This collar will keep you in line. One press of a button and it will shock you. Consider it a lesson for you to not repeat bad behaviour.”

“Yes, sir,”  _ don’t resist, don’t resist _ Peter breathed in large gulps of air to calm himself. This was his life for now, and he would do his best to not get shocked by the collar, but he guessed from the look on Times’ face, he wasn’t going to get by that easily. 

Peter stayed frozen as two men grabbed him on each side, holding him in place as Times approached him with the collar. Peter closed his eyes as Times got into his personal space and snapped the metal in place. The metal was cold and foreboding along his neck, but weighed next to nothing and didn’t feel like it would hinder his movements too much. 

“Wonderful.” Times smiled, “now, these men will show you to your cell, I’m sure kids like you need their bedtimes and all that. Inside your cell is your Raft issue uniform which you must wear at all times.”

“Yes, sir,” Peter answered.

“Sleep tight, Spider-Man,” Times grinned as Peter was dragged out of the room and into the unknown.

  
  
  


Peter’s cell was small and cramped. A small single bed was placed along the left hand wall, with a small desk and toilet on the right hand side. True to his word, a new uniform waited for Peter when he entered the room. 

The officer who escorted Peter shoved him closer to the bed before walking out of the cell and shutting the door. The front of the cell was a clear window with bars placed vertically on the other side. 

Sighing, Peter grabbed his uniform off the bed, and quickly changed into his new clothes. His head was throbbing with exhaustion, so before he could settle too deeply into his thoughts, Peter rolled onto the bed and let sleep overtake him, hoping for a better day tomorrow. 

  
  
  


When Peter woke the next morning feeling slightly better rested, Peter noticed that breakfast had been fed through a hatch at the bottom of the door that he hadn’t noticed before. It was a plain breakfast of cereal and water, but Peter, who hadn’t eaten since he’d seen Neil the day previously found himself ravishing the breakfast like he hadn’t eaten in years. 

After breakfast, Peter was escorted from his room to the showers. 

“Normally, you get communal shower time,” one of the officers with a large gun in his hands told him, “but it's your first time, and since you are a minor, we’ve had to schedule you some private shower time for now.”

“Uh, thanks,” Peter answered, not sure if he should be grateful or not as the guard pushed him through to the changing rooms.

Peter looked around the room and noted it was like the changing rooms and the showers at school, and almost sighed at the familiarity. When the guard didn’t leave, Peter knew that this wasn’t going to be as private as he’d hoped. 

The guard unlocked Peter’s cuffs and Peter quickly started undressing and walked towards the showers, noting that just outside the shower stalls were fresh towels and soap and shampoo was securely attached to the wall.

Not liking the idea that someone could be watching him shower, Peter scrubbed his hair and body quickly and grabbed a towel to dry himself and dress.

Before Peter knew it, he was cuffed and being led back to his cell, where two guards seemed to be permanently stationed outside his door. From there, Peter was left alone. 

Staring around his room, Peter didn’t know what to do. His room was bare and had nothing entertaining in it. Nothing to occupy his busy mind.

“Hey,” Peter called through to the guard, who grunted that he’d acknowledged his call, “so, what exactly is supposed to happen now?”

One guard snorted and Peter felt his face flush, the collar around his neck feeling suddenly heavy.

“Nothing. You sit in your room like a good boy.” The guard told him, barking out a laugh. 

Two hours later led to Peter sitting on the ceiling, hoping that viewing the world from upside down would help him find something more positive in life when a sharp shock rippled through his body.

Peter screamed and lost his footing as he crashed down to the ground. The shock continued for another 15 seconds before it finally subsided. Peter stared down at his hands which were shaking in the aftershocks.

“Thought that might get your attention,” Times said, as Peter whipped his head up to look at the man. He hadn’t even noticed him coming. “I hope you’ve had a pleasant morning so far.”

Peter grimaced at the thought of his morning. 

“Did you want anything?” Peter bit out, not really wanting to be around the man any longer than necessary.

“Not really.” Times told him as he lifted his arm in a half wave and walked out of the room. 

Peter watched him leave with gritted teeth. This man wanted something, and he was going to figure out what that was. 

  
  
  


_ “Peter Parker, the sixteen year old boy accused of killing Quentin Beck, was officially taken to the Raft prison last night.” _ The newscaster started. Ned stared blankly at the TV screen, willing for them to tell him something he didn’t already know. Ned had slept better last night, but not enough to consider it a restful sleep.  _ “Peter Parker is a student of the famous STEM school Midtown School of Science and Technology. Parker, who would be entering his senior year this year, is known amongst the staff and students as consistently polite and willing to help out. When we questioned the school principal, the man revealed that Parker was well-liked by all, and he was shocked at the accusations at Parker.” _

Ned wasn’t entirely sure what was going to happen with Peter’s senior year. Peter had hinted in the beginning that he would drop out if he was ever revealed, but hadn’t commented on it more recently after he’d gained more worldwide fame as part of the Avengers. Ned knew Peter had struggled with the title, despite his initial excitement when he’d first started. 

It was after Tony, Ned decided, that Peter’s views had changed. Ned had noticed the grief, but also hadn’t known how to comfort a boy who’d lost every male figure in his life. Ned couldn’t even begin to imagine the trauma that Peter had suffered losing his parents at such a young age, to losing his Uncle Ben, to losing Tony Stark. 

Despite Ned’s questioning, Peter would always clam up when he was talking about Tony, and Ned had never wanted to push it. He was especially cagey about his trip to space and the war. Ned could understand why, but it had almost felt like a chasm had wrenched it’s way inside of Peter, and Ned had no way of fixing it. Then Europe happened, and Ned had barely had time to dissect what had happened to himself in Europe, let alone what had happened to Peter.

It made Ned feel incredibly selfish, but Peter had hidden it all so well. He’d seemed to be doing better, then this happened. 

There was so much he would change now. He hadn’t been a good friend now, but he would do better. He would be the best friend he could ever be.

_ “Tensions continue to rise outside The White House,” _ the newscaster continued,  _ “after the incarceration of Peter Parker and the judge’s decision to try him as an adult had caused widespread protests across the country. All eyes are on the president to see if he will step in to calm the situation. The British Government have also called for Peter Parker to be questioned on British soil on terrorism charges from the battle that took place on Tower Bridge.” _

It was never ending, Ned thought. This was the beginning, and Ned couldn’t even begin to think of where they were going to end up from here. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed! I'm just in the middle of writing chapter 14, and I'm so excited for you guys to get there, too. 
> 
> As always, please excuse any mistakes. I'm sure there are some, but it's super late now, and I'm being a little bit lazy.... 
> 
> I hope everyone has had a lovely weekend :)


	6. Chapter 6

_ “This morning we’re dishing all the gossip on the celebrity of the hour,” _ Harrington cringed at the television screen because this had definitely been going on longer for an hour. It had been five days now. Today was a big day for him, which meant he was up early even as summer vacation was soon to come to a close. 

_ “Peter Parker,” _ another host added, a smile promising secrets on her face, showing her perfect, white teeth. Her bleach blonde hair was hanging over her shoulders, but Harrington noted that they’d used so much product in her hair, it hardly moved an inch as she moved her head. 

_ “We’ve been doing some digging, and we believe we have all the facts that you would ever want to know about the super hero who was once tipped to be the next lead Avenger.” _ Harrington had nearly forgotten about that. Peter Parker who turned up to his classes, his student Peter Parker, sixteen, almost seventeen year old, Peter Parker, was going to lead the world’s mightiest superheroes. The thought boggled his mind. 

_ “Do share with the class.” _ A host with dark brown hair and a tightly fitted blue dress replied.

_ “So, let’s start with the basics, yes?” _ The blond host started,  _ “Peter Parker is sixteen years old. It’s actually his birthday tomorrow on August 10th. He should have been entering his final year at Midtown School of Science and Technology, an elite STEM school. We looked at the entrance exam of that school, and it is quite literally a school for genius kids. Peter is there on a scholarship.” _

Harrington sighed. He was beginning to wonder how much these people had actually figured out. He was positive they couldn’t really say too much because he was a minor despite what the courts think of what he had done.

_ “Peter has a 4.0 GPA, which is extra impressive considering he was also fighting crime as Spider-Man at the same time. _ ” the blond host paused long enough for the brunette nod. Harrington agreed, it was pretty impressive.  _ “Peter Parker has had an especially tough upbringing. When we asked around, and looked into public records, we discovered a few things about Peter’s home life. _

_ “Peter lives with his aunt, May Parker. She is Peter’s sole guardian. Peter’s parents Richard Parker and Mary Parker, formerly Mary Fitzpatrick, died in a plane crash when Peter was only four years old. After the death of his parents, custody of Peter was given to May and Benjamin Parker.” _ The blonde host stopped for a moment to let all the information sink in.

Harrington had known Peter’s parents had passed away, he’d heard all the teasing from some of the students, and Harrington could never imagine how it would have felt losing your parents at that age. 

_ “But that’s not all, right?” _ The brunette host questioned.

_ “Of course not,” _ The blonde replied,  _ “tragedy struck Peter once more, Peter’s uncle was tragically shot and killed in a mugging when he was only fourteen.” _

_ “How sad,” _ the brunette said without an ounce of sincerity, and Harrington found himself getting annoyed at the hosts. He remembered this happening. 

_ “It is, especially as Peter was present when Benjamin Parker, or Ben as he liked to be called, was shot. His uncle died tragically in Peter’s arms. _ ” The blonde added. 

Harrington remembered Ben Parker’s death well. He remembered Peter coming in to school the next day despite Harrington’s insistence that he stayed home, but Peter had been stubborn. He said he’d wanted to be here more than he’d wanted to be home. He remembered the silence that followed Peter in the hallways. He remembered Ned comforting Peter. Roger Harrington remembered Peter breaking down in his office after a low score on his quiz.

But, he also remembered Peter slowly getting better. Now that Harrington thought back on it all, Peter’s happiness started to reappear around the same time that Spider-Man had started to make an appearance. 

Harrington turned back to the TV as the two hosts started to discuss Peter and Tony Stark, and how Peter had lost another important man in his life. Harrington sighed and turned it off. He couldn’t deal with them anymore. He didn’t want to know more about the tragedy that was Peter Parker’s life. 

Peter had been through too much, he’d decided. But, today, Harrington was going to make it better. 

  
  


Harrington had been told a driver would be waiting for him at exactly 10am outside his house. So, at 9.57am, Harrington checked outside his apartment window and true to their word, a car was parked outside his building. 

Grabbing his bookbag, Harrington made his way downstairs and outside the building. 

"Hi, I'm Roger, nice to meet you." Harrington greeted as he walked up to the man standing in front of the car. 

The man smiled at him, he was tall and bulky. Roger could have sworn he recognised the man a little. 

"Thank you for doing this on short notice," the man greeted as he opened the door of the car. "I'm Happy."

"I'd do anything for Peter." Roger told him, as Happy shut the door and walked quickly to the driver's seat of the car. 

"So, I'm supposed to debrief you as we go to the helicopter." Happy told him and Roger leaned forward slightly so he didn't misunderstand a single word. "Neil was with him yesterday, which is how we came to the school for assistance. I'm going to take you to a specific designated helipad where you will be escorted to the Raft prison. Once you get on the helicopter, I'm no longer allowed to follow."

"And how is Peter?" Harrington asked.

"Neil said he was as you could expect considering where he is. Peter was pretty tight lipped about what was happening there." Happy explained. "The Raft is a super-max prison, but the warden in charge has assured us that besides Peter you won't see any of the inmates. You will be taken to a secluded room and Peter will be brought to you."

"Okay, and I get 3 hours with him, right?"

"You do. The government were reluctant to even give you that much," Happy sighed, "the warden argued that it clashed with his isolation time."

"Isolation?" Harrington asked in horror.

"We don't like it either, but Neil is working on it, but until the trial, Peter is unfortunately on their grounds." Happy explained. 

"When is his trial?" Harrington asked.

"We don't know yet. Apparently they have to clear a few dates yet." Happy explained, his grip on the steering wheel tightening. 

"Okay," Roger sighed, leaning back in his chair as a helipad with a helicopter appeared before them.

"Look, can I ask you a favour?" Happy asked nervously. 

"Sure," Roger agreed.

"Can you tell Peter we love him? And tell him Morgan is demanding cheeseburgers and movies when he gets out." Happy said with a sad smile.

"For sure." Roger agreed easily.

"Thank you," Happy replied and it was like he deflated a little. "Peter was only just recovering from everything with Tony and then this. He needs as much reassurance as he can get right now."

"I know " Roger smiled as Happy got out of the car to let Roger out. 

"Let's get you to the Raft." Happy told him, a grin on his face. 

  
  
  


The Raft was a scary place, Harrington decided. The floating island had loomed heavily in the distance as they’d approached, and was scary even on the inside. 

After being signed in and led through winding corridors that Roger Harrington was sure he’d never remember, no matter how many times he came here, he was led to one single room.

The room was set up almost like an interview room, and Roger figured it probably was an interview room. A whiteboard had presumably been wheeled into the room and there were a few board markers and whiteboard erasers placed neatly on his side of the table. The room was otherwise dull. Pale blue covered all the walls, the desk was a slightly darker shade of blue and on the sides of Peter’s side of the desk were two, what Roger could only describe as manacles, attached to chains. 

Roger shivered thinking these were probably for Peter. 

The door on the right of him opened suddenly, and Peter was shoved into the room. Roger moved to stand to help Peter, but he caught himself before he could hit the ground. The same officer that shoved Peter walked into the room.

“Arms,” the man grunted, and Peter obediently raised his arms so that the officer could unlock the cuffs around Peter’s wrists. 

The officer pushed Peter into the chair opposite where Roger was standing and Roger watched as the officer snapped Peter’s wrists into the manacles. Peter made to move his wrist closer to his body, but his body suddenly spasmed and he grunted.

“You know you aren’t allowed to hide your arms.” The officer grunted at him, and Roger watched Peter nod and breathe in relief. “Anymore funny business, and you know what will happen. Arms where we can see them at all times.” 

“Yes, sir.” Peter replied, as he finally turned to look at Harrington. 

“We’ll be outside the door. You have three hours.” The officer informed them as he left the room.

“Peter,” Harrington breathed, not even sure what to say now that he was here. 

“Mr. Harrington.” Peter replied, and Roger finally got a good look at Peter. 

He saw the red rimming Peter’s eyes like he hadn’t been getting a good night's sleep. He was pale under the fluorescent lighting, his hair unkempt and curly. Roger thought he could see a bruise poking out from the top of Peter’s shirt, but he couldn’t be sure. Then there was that metal collar around Peter’s neck. Roger felt his heart splitting in two and his mind could only begin to imagine the possibilities of the collar. 

Roger thought back to the way Peter had spasmed. 

His heart dropped.

He was sure that it must be illegal. There was no way they were allowed to torture a teenager. There was no way this was happening. 

Peter coughed to get Roger’s attention and Roger reluctantly drew his eyes from the collar, but it’s sinister glint didn’t leave Roger’s eyes even when he looked Peter in the eyes. 

“How are you?” Roger asked uselessly. 

“Okay, I guess.” Peter sighed, “I’m surprised they actually let you come here.”

“I was surprised to get the call.” Harrington agreed.

“Can I ask you a question?” Peter asked suddenly.

“You can.” Roger replied.

“How are Ned, May and MJ?” Peter asked shyly. Roger should have figured that this would be it. Trust Peter to think of others wellbeing above his own.

“They’re okay. Working on ways to get you out of here.” Roger explained to him. He had spoken briefly to May yesterday and she was upset, but strong. He had also seen Ned and MJ on social media fighting the cause. 

“You know I didn’t do it, right?” Peter checked.

“Of course. I was there, Peter. I know you.” Roger reassured him. “I have a message for you from Happy.”

“From Happy?” Peter asked, shifting his arms on the table, but stopping quickly as he looked to a camera in the corner of the room. The chains on his arms rattling uselessly. 

“Yeah, he said to tell you that they love you, and Morgan is demanding cheeseburgers and movies when you get out.” Roger relayed the message and watched as a grin spread across Peter’s face.

“You know I only met Morgan a few times, and she always wants cheeseburgers and movie nights.” Peter replied, “she’s like Mr. Stark with the cheeseburgers.”

Roger had clicked on a certain level that the Morgan that Happy had spoken about was Morgan Stark, but Roger hadn’t really fully appreciated that Peter had somehow managed to fit visits to the Starks on more than one occasion. 

“Happy seemed pretty confident that you’d win the case pretty easily.” Roger started, not sure where else to go with the conversation.

“Yeah, well, EDITH would have been recording everything, and I have my suits recordings. Then there are actual witnesses in London.” Peter replied, scratching at the base of his cuffs. “Spider-Man doesn’t kill anyone, Mr. Harrington. Sure, Beck died, but he died because the drone that he was controlling shot him.”

A darkness swept across Peter’s eyes. 

“I believe you,” Roger reassured him, as he reached down to pick up his bookbag, “so, let’s start on our official business then, right?” 

Peter smiled as he leaned forward slightly. 

“The school semester isn’t due to start for another few weeks, but since our time together is limited, we’ll just try to get ahead of everyone, is that good?” Roger told him, watching as a few tears sprang into Peter’s eyes. 

“Yes, sir.” Peter replied, a thickness to his voice that Roger wasn’t expecting. 

Roger placed all the paper’s he’d gathered in a hurry out on the table and spread them out. He warned Peter that his senior year was going to be so much harder than every other year, and delved into his subjects. 

He might not be the best teacher for all the subjects, but for this one kid who was already suffering so much, Roger Harrington would do his best. Peter only deserved the best. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the new chapter! I hope you liked it! If you find any mistakes, let me know :)
> 
> I hope everyone has had a great week!


	7. Chapter 7

_ "The trial of Peter Parker, better known as Spider Man, is set to be expedited at the courts. Authorities are expecting for the trial to take place within the next few weeks." _

MJ and Ned both sat on the couch in Ned's home, anxiously watching the news. It had been two weeks since Mysterio had revealed Peter's identity. Two weeks since they'd both known that nothing was ever going to be the same again. School was going to be starting back next week on Monday. Happy had told them about Harrington going to visit Peter, so MJ and Ned knew exactly where they were going to go first thing on Monday morning. 

They'd both decided on using Ned's home as a kind of home base. Sitting outside in the open had become too risky. There were too many reporters and too many people knew they were close with Peter. They needed to be distraction free, but they also didn't know what to do. 

Ned had spoken to Happy, but was only told to hang tight. That Stark Industries were dealing with it. But there was no way they could both just sit around and do nothing. Peter's freedom was on the line. 

"Of course it’s going to be expedited." MJ breathed. Obviously the people needed something. This case was potentially one of the most high profile cases that had ever happened. Everyone knew about it. Ned and MJ's phones hadn't stopped ringing since it had all happened.

“There’s only so many ways they can keep trudging up Peter’s ‘tragic upbringing’,” Ned answered air quoting the tragic upbringing, as it was all he’d heard for the last few days.

“They keep bringing it up as if it’s a reason why he would have killed him,” MJ was angry at the way the media was portraying Peter. The way the media was portraying her and Ned. This was all becoming too much for any of them to handle. 

May had been temporarily removed from hers and Peter’s apartment in Queens, and was staying at the compound with Pepper, Morgan and Happy. There were too many people at her apartment, and the building’s security was becoming overwhelmed. May hadn’t been able to go to work since this had all started, and despite Pepper insisting on covering the rent and the bills, May couldn’t have stayed there safely. 

Whilst Ned and MJ had been waiting on any kind of news on Peter, they’d started their own ways of ensuring that Peter returned home a free man. They’d started a blog to bring together all the available public witness videos and testimonies of what had happened during the fight in London. 

There were, of course, thousands of videos being sent to them at all times, and sometimes not even videos of London. Videos of other things Peter had done over the course of his time as Spider-Man.

Within a few days, their blog had taken off, and the news had started pointing to their website as a source of information. Their blog had become a go-to for everything Spider-Man related, and it was a hit. They received hundreds of comments every day, their posts were all over social media, and both Ned and MJ were convinced that there was no way that Beck’s claims could stand up in a court of law, there was just too much evidence against it.

MJ had begun to wonder how it had even gotten to the point that it had. There was so much evidence released on the day of the attack that it almost seemed criminal that Peter was being forced to stand trial and in the first place. It just made no sense to her. 

She didn’t want to think of it as a conspiracy, but there was clearly more happening than people were talking about, and it was her and Ned’s job to show everyone what had happened, even if it meant exposing everyone for who they truly were. 

MJ looked at the time at the corner of the screen. She noted it was coming up to 7pm. It wasn’t too late, but in the current climate, she didn’t want to risk being caught out in the dark on her own as things were.

“I think I’m going to have to head out.” She told Ned, the boy turned to look at her, his eyes sympathetic.

“I would get my mom to drive you, but she’s not here.” Ned offered, and MJ knew his heart was in the right place.

“It’s okay, it won’t take me long to get home. I’d just rather not have to deal with them in the dark.” MJ reasoned as she stood up, “don’t forget to post that new video at 7.30. I won’t be able to come all weekend, my mom is insistent on getting stuff ready for school on Monday, even though she knows I still have all my stuff from last year. So, I’ll see you on Monday.” 

“My mom bought all my stuff for me. She’s afraid of me leaving the house for too long.” Ned admitted, but MJ didn’t blame his mom. It had been a slip of someone’s tongue that had outed them as Peter’s best friend and girlfriend. But, the media had been relentless. They obviously weren’t as bad as they were with May, but everyone suddenly wanted to know them, including people from their school that MJ was sure had never even attempted to speak to them before. 

“I don’t blame her.” MJ eventually answered as she walked towards the door. 

“See you Monday,” Ned said as he held the door for her, and MJ could see the tension on his shoulders. 

“Yeah, see you on Monday.” MJ replied as she walked down the steps. She turned back to wave once before she put her head down and quickly walked down the street. She definitely didn’t want to get caught out today. 

  
  
  


Happy Hogan and Pepper Potts sat in a conference room at the Avengers Compound. The room was brilliantly white, and most of the space was filled with a large desk and black chairs surrounding it. On one side of the room sat a large TV, playing the latest news, but it was only playing quietly in the background. 

Spread across the desk was piles of papers. Some were related to Peter, others related to the attack in London, some related to Quentin Beck and others related to the Sokovia Accords. 

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” announced a new voice.

“No problem, Neil.” Pepper replied as she watched Neil settle.

“How is he?” Happy asked immediately.

“As good as you can expect.” Neil answered evasively.

“And the answer you wouldn’t give May Parker.” Pepper replied sternly.

“Peter’s a strong kid, but the Raft is horrific. I told you about the collar, right?” Neil asked, and watched as they both grimaced, “well, they use that one pretty liberally.”

“How are we with getting that thing off him?” Pepper asked.

“Probably won’t happen. I’m asking everyone, but no one is budging.” Neil replied, “I’m only allowed in there once a week, on a Tuesday, and his teacher is going there once a week on a Saturday, moving from when he was going, as he will be returning to school on Monday. On Wednesday, Peter spent 24 hours in isolation, which included sensory deprivation. By Thursday evening, he was in the infirmary. The guards claim he fell down the stairs. Obviously. That’s the big stuff that I’ve been allowed to know, but obviously they aren’t telling me everything. Peter’s not being very forthcoming with answers either. Obviously, there’s a fear element for him as he’s the one who has to stay there at the moment.”

“Jesus,” Happy sighed, his eyes shining with worry.

“I feel like that’s only scratching the surface. It’s only been two weeks, but Peter is really starting to suffer in there. The government think they’re being underhand by pushing his court date forward, but honestly, it can only be a good thing for us as he needs to be out of there.” Neil told them.

“I agree,” Pepper replied, “we have a lot of evidence, and a lot of his class have agreed to stand as witnesses should they need to in regards to his behaviour on the trip. Happy has also been asked to stand, which obviously he will.” 

“I received the video clips, from the EDITH glasses and from Peter’s suit.” Neil informed, “there’s a pretty damning video on there.” 

“Damning of Peter?” Happy asked.

“No, of Beck. It’s actually a pretty horrific video.” Neil said, rubbing his fingers together. That video had given him nightmares, and he was sure he was going to use it as evidence.

“The train?” Happy asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Neil replied.

“What do you think of it?” Pepper asked, she had seen the video, too, before she’d passed it on to Neil, knowing that this was pretty solid evidence against what Beck had claimed.

“It’s going to be hard for the jury to stomach, but it clearly shows Beck for who he is.” Neil told them, “there’s one more thing.”

“What’s that?” Pepper asked, a frown forming on her face. 

“In Peter’s recent police questioning on Tuesday, he revealed that there was some web fluid and some old Spider-Man gear at his school.” Neil started.

“Right,” Pepper replied, her voice implying confusion.

“Well, the government have now ordered that Peter be taken off the Raft in order to show them where those things are.” Neil said quickly.

“What?” Happy replied.

“Well, on Monday afternoon, Peter is going to be temporarily removed from the Raft, and taken to Midtown to show the lead investigators where the web fluid and other things are.” Neil explained slower.

“Are they legally allowed to do that?” Pepper asked.

“Well, I’m not convinced, and I haven’t had a chance to check out all the legalities on it yet, but the investigators said it was going to happen either way. They’ve not really given us a window to reject them.”

“But Monday is when all the kids are going back to school.” Happy informed the group.

“They have been informed of this,” Neil sighed.

“And they won’t change it?” Pepper confirmed.

“Nope.” Neil replied, he hated this already, and he knew that there was no way out of this. Peter was going to be dragged through the school as an example, as if there were other Spider-Men lying in wait. 

“Okay, well, do we know what time they plan on being there?” Pepper asked. It was Saturday today, and that meant they had the rest of today and tomorrow to try and arrange something. 

“I’ve been asked to be at the Raft to pick Peter up at 10am. From there, the helicopter is flying straight to the school, and we will be there for approximately 12:30pm.” Neil informed, pulling out the schedule. “We don’t anticipate being there for long, before Peter is remanded back into the Raft.” 

“How many officers will be accompanying him?” Pepper asked.

“6 trained Raft officers will be escorting, as well as a police guard at the school before we arrive. My informant from within the Raft because they don’t like giving me all the information, informed me that Peter will be cuffed on his wrists and ankles, they are considering a mouth guard, but they haven’t decided yet.” Neil explained.

“They know he’s seventeen, right? Not a serial killer who bites people?” Happy asked sarcastically. 

“Apparently not. When I arrive on Monday, I will argue that. Even if just for traumatising the children that will see him on Monday.” Neil answered, “not to mention the trauma it will cause Peter to be in that situation.” 

“Yes, please do everything you can.” Pepper replied. 

“I think that’s all I have to update you on from my end.” Neil explained, as he sat a little straighter. 

“Good,” Pepper replied, “I have a few friends in the courts from Tony’s old days as he was. They believe Peter’s case could come up as soon as mid-September, so we need to have all available evidence ready.” Pepper started. 

She hadn’t really known Peter before the war. Tony had spoken endlessly about him, and she had met him briefly as he followed Tony around the labs, but then with everything that had happened after the war, Pepper had gotten to know him better. She was determined to do right by him. Peter had been precious to Tony, and in turn, he had become someone precious to her. she was going to make this better and they were going to bring him home. 

Sitting straighter, she faced Neil with determination. They were going to do their best for Peter. He wouldn’t stay there forever. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> I know I have a lot of comments to reply, too, but this week has been so busy. I'll reply to everyone ASAP!
> 
> I hope you all liked this chapter!


	8. Chapter 8

Peter stared ahead as he was dragged from his cell at 10am. He was getting used to the manhandling now, it almost felt natural to expect them to be rough with him. His body still ached from his ‘fall’ the other day, then his ‘fall’ yesterday only added to the bruising that covered his exposed arms.

But he knew what today was. Today was a big day and he’d been threatened not to mess it up. 

Peter was walked to the front of the Raft, where he was met by Times and six other heavily armed Raft officers. All of them carrying guns and body armour. This was standard issue at the Raft. There were too many bad people here for them to be under-equipped for anything to happen at the Raft. He knew what it meant to disobey these men. They were harsh, and took no sides. Every side had one side and it was just the wrong side. The guilty side. 

But, he wasn’t allowed to think about that. He wasn’t allowed to think about that and he wasn’t allowed to talk about that. 

“I’m sure you’ve been informed of where you’re going today?” Times asked him with a sneer. 

“Yes, sir.” Peter answered him, the collar on his neck suddenly feeling ten times heavier under Times’ stare. He knew more than to disobey this man. 

“Great.” Times replied, clapping his hands suddenly, which caused Peter to flinch. 

Behind Peter a door opened, and Peter recognised who it was from the way they walked. 

“Neil,” Times’ greeted as if he was greeting an old friend. 

“Mr. Times,” Neil replied, and Peter turned to look at the man. Peter smiled at the man gratefully, knowing that the man was bending over backwards for his case, and he knew how difficult everyone around him was being about his case. 

“Suit him up, boys.” Times ordered as a guard walked forward with a new set of cuffs. There was a longer chain on this set, but there wasn’t a lot of leeway, “you should feel lucky, Peter. We almost clamped your mouth closed, but Neil here spoke at great length in your defence, so we have decided to forego that for now.”

“Thank you, sir.” Peter replied as the officer knelt down and attached the cuffs to his ankles. 

“Remember that gratitude,” Times replied to him, as Peter and Neil were escorted from the room and down to the waiting helicopter. 

Peter couldn’t help but be slightly excited, this was the first time he was getting out of the Raft since he had been here. He was excited to see what the world looked like, it felt like he hadn’t seen the outside of the Raft in so long. 

Once they’d boarded the helicopter, and Peter was sufficiently locked into his chair, the guard motioned to the driver and they were being lifted into the air and led away from the place he’d been forced to stay in for so long now. 

Peter watched as the Raft sank back beneath the water, marvelling slightly at the mechanics that would make the prison do that. 

Very quickly, the trip settled into quiet. Peter knew better than to speak, no matter how many questions he had. He knew that anything he did on this trip out to the school would reflect badly on himself and wouldl be met with punishments later, so he was going to do his best to not get on everyone’s nerves. Even if that did mean not speaking. Besides Neil, he knew that there was no one here that he would like to speak to, anyway. 

Lately, he had found himself feeling the loneliness begin to creep in. Besides dinner times and Neil and Mr. Harrington’s visits, Peter didn’t speak to anyone. Peter liked talking, he knew he rambled a lot, but talking had always been a comfort to him, and he’d always had someone to talk to. He hadn’t realised how much he’d relied on his friends and Aunt May to talk to until all of this happened. Now, he found himself second guessing everything that came out of his mouth. He was beginning to become cautious of everything he said, and he kept his thoughts to himself. He had learnt what it meant to question the guards at the Raft and he was not going to do that again.

  
  
  


The two hour journey from the Raft felt like an age to Peter, who had started to become fidgety. He was filled with nerves and excitement. Peter knew that today was the first day back after summer vacation. Harrington had mentioned it when he’d explained that he would now be coming on different days to what he had usually been coming. Peter had been understanding, but he had already started to miss Harrington, especially after their usual Wednesday session had been cancelled for his trip to isolation this week. 

Sitting up straighter, Peter recognised the tiny speck in the distance. He would know Midtown anywhere. Before he knew it, the helicopter began its descent onto the football field, which for once had been cleared of the team. Peter checked the time on the helicopter and noted it was just approaching 12:15. It would be lunch time, so he knew that there should have been some students milling about the field now. 

They’d probably cleared it for him. No, they had most definitely cleared the field for him. Why else would no one be here at lunch time. 

Peter waited as the guards disembarked from the helicopter. One staying behind to unlock Peter from his chair and to guide him out of the helicopter. 

Peter’s feet touched the ground first, then he noticed the feeling of the wind on his skin and the sun on his face, and he felt a tension leave his body. It felt like an age since he’d last been able to feel the wind in his hair, and a part of him wanted to close his eyes to further enjoy the feeling, but he knew he wouldn’t be allowed to. 

“Let’s go.” One of the guards ordered, as they formed parallel lines around Peter. Peter knew this would never be a secretive move, but the guards surrounding him definitely made him seem all the more obvious. 

“Right, Pete. All you need to do is lead us to where the stuff is, then we’re all done, okay?” Neil informed him as he moved closer to Peter.

“Right,” Peter agreed and began walking forward. He couldn’t walk very fast with the chains around his ankle, and he constantly felt like he was about to fall over, but he powered across the field as quickly as he could. 

He was beginning to feel humiliation creep up his neck as he got closer to the school. The thought of him entering the school chained up as he was began to grow on him, and he knew he wasn’t a good sight at the moment. He hadn’t slept properly for a while, and he knew his cheek was still bruised from yesterday, not counting his arms which were still on display. 

But, for some reason, the government and the investigators had been adamant they do this now. He wasn’t even sure what this was going to bring to their investigation. What purpose did him having old web fluid and an old suit here have to their investigation? 

They entered the school through the main entrance, and immediately whatever kind of noise that had been in the hallway immediately came to a hold. There was silence and Peter felt every pair of eyes land on him. On Peter that was chained at his wrists and his ankles. It was lunch time, of course all the students would have been waiting for him. 

Some students pulled their phones out as Peter led the guards through the hallways. In the corner of his eye, he was sure he spotted Happy, but by the time he could turn around to check, a guard nudged him back to face forward. 

He knew he would be there from the moment he was told he was going to the school. Peter led the guards through the hallways of the school like he was leading a procession for a dead man. He turned one last corner to where he knew his locker was and where he knew he hid all of his stuff. And there, by his locker, stood Ned and MJ. Both of them looking at him in wonder as he walked up to them. Peter felt a tension leave his shoulders and a small smile grace his face. 

“This is where the fluid is.” Peter told the guards, but he didn’t turn to look at them. His eyes remained focused on Ned and MJ, like he was memorising every aspect of them ready to take back with him to the Raft.

“Quickly.” One of the guards reminded him as he slammed the end of his gun into Peter’s shoulder. Peter stumbled forward slightly, but caught himself. He rolled his shoulder slightly, before turning to the lockers. He didn’t want to see the looks on Ned and MJ’s faces.

Peter leant forward, and using his strength, he pulled the lockers up. Underneath the row of lockers laid two bottles of web fluid, half of one empty as he had needed it. and underneath that laid his spare suit. One Tony had made for him. A spare one. One that wasn’t as high-tech as his normal one, but one that would manage in a pinch. 

Peter heard one of the guards pull on some gloves and pull out evidence bags. He held the locker up with his head down as they quickly cleared away his suit and fluid. He felt almost like a killer who was being paraded around the scene of the crime.

There were hushed whispers throughout the corridor, students had their phones out, Peter knew all of this was going to end up online. He knew the world would see him for what he was. 

“You can replace the locker now, Pete.” Neil told him gently, and Peter let the locker fall back to its original position. 

It was as if Peter returning the locker to its place broke the dam, and it felt like everyone was shouting at him, hurling questions in his direction. Peter stepped back slightly, not knowing what to do and wondering why the guards weren’t doing anything. 

In amongst the questions were shouts of how much they supported him, with many people claiming that they were on his side. 

Amongst the chaos, Peter didn’t realise how close to a guard he’d become and when he accidentally knocked into one, he was harshly shoved back, and fell to the ground. 

Before he knew what was happening, shocks ran through his body and he grunted, curling his body tighter into himself.

“Stop!” He vaguely registered someone shouting as the shocks began to lighten.

“Halt!” Peter heard as he turned over and tried to catch his breath. 

“Peter!” It was MJ, the voice. MJ. It must have been MJ who had shouted before, too.

“I’m okay.” He breathed, as he forced himself slowly into a standing position. He looked around and saw Neil standing face to face with the guard who presumably activated the collar. 

“They just electrocuted you.” Ned stated, his eyes wide as Peter turned to him.

“It’s okay.” Peter told him, but it felt like his body was still sizzling and seizing from the collar. 

“It’s happened before,” MJ breathed, and Peter didn’t turn to her to confirm it.

“You broke the rules.” One guard told him as he entered Peter’s line of sight. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, sir.” Peter replied, raising his hands up to show he meant no harm. 

“We have everything we need here, we’ll finish this back at the Raft.” Another guard promised as the first guard grabbed hold of the chains linking Peter’s wrists. 

“You won’t hear the end of this.” MJ called to them as Peter was dragged back through the hallway. This time a procession of students followed him as he was settled back into the helicopter and locked into his chair, the bindings on his arms and legs suddenly feeling more constricting than they had before with the weight of the stares as he was lifted into the air once more. Once more back to the castle that he needed rescuing from. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry for the long wait for this one, last week just ended up being a really bad week. The long and the short of it is some of my family in the UK came down with COVID, and I spent a lot of my time last week on calls back home (I don't live in the UK, I live in Korea). 
> 
> Hopefully this chapter lives up to the wait though! I promise I do see all of your comments, and I will reply eventually :(


	9. Chapter 9

**PETER PARKER ATTACKED! HOW SAFE IS THE RAFT FOR NEW YORK’S SPIDER-MAN?**

_ Yesterday, Peter Parker was seen at Midtown School for Science and Technology. From video footage of the scene, it appears that Parker was there to show investigators where hidden Spider-Man material may have been kept.  _

_ The trip to school was not as hidden as perhaps the investigators would have liked, as they had chosen the first day back at school for the students of Midtown, and even worse, Parker arrived at the school as lunch was in session.  _

_ From the video, you can see Parker being led through the school by heavily armed guards, presumably to keep Parker safe from any interference.  _

_ The video footage continues to show Parker displaying where the evidence was, before the crowd became too rowdy. Peter Parker stumbled back into an officer, before the most shocking part of the video happened. _

_ Peter Parker was electrocuted in plain view. The whole incident had been live-streamed for the whole world to see. The guards appeared to show no remorse as Parker was shocked for approximately one minute, before students Michelle Jones and Ned Leeds got involved as well as Parker’s own lawyer, who was also at the scene.  _

_ The incident brought many questions to light, including Peter’s treatment at the Raft. Eye-witnesses at the scene described that Peter was covered in bruises on his arms.  _

_ Peter was quickly escorted from the scene into a helicopter where he was taken back to the Raft.  _

_ News teams have attempted to reach out to the state in an attempt to gather more information about how inmates are treated on the Raft, but no reply has been given as of yet.  _

_ Pepper Potts, the CEO of Stark Industries and one of Peter’s biggest advocates has released a statement claiming that her and her lawyers are doing everything they can and they are not happy about the turn of events at the school, and that the guards had used “unnecessary force” when dealing with Peter. _

_ As always, when further information becomes available we will update our blog. Be sure to follow as this story develops further.  _

_ Posted on Tuesday, August 25 on _ [ _newyorkwatchblog.com_](http://newyorkwatchblog.com)

MJ read the blog and sighed. This blog had been around for a long time and had been a keen supporter of Peter since before they’d even known Peter was Spider-Man. She looked back to her own blog that she shared with Ned, and they’d been carefully reviewing all the footage they’d been sent regarding the school attack, but no matter how long she stared at the emails and the videos on her desktop, nothing could stop the images that invaded her mind.

She could still see Peter seizing and writhing on the ground as he was shocked. She could still see the pain in his eyes as he’d fought to stand up again. The blog hadn’t been lying. Peter had been covered in bruises, and when she’d spoken to Happy about it after, he’d claimed that they were aware of them before he’d even come to the school on the Monday.

In reality, MJ was fuming, and she could barely contain it. She wanted to go and attack the men that thought it was okay to go and attack Peter. Peter had done nothing to anyone, but had consistently found himself at the short end of the stick every time. 

“This isn’t helping,” MJ eventually announced, starling Ned out of his thoughts. They’d been silent since they’d seen Peter yesterday. Even Flash had been quiet in school since everything that had happened on Monday. Their academic decathlon meeting had been one of the worst they’d ever held, and it was their first one of the year.

Mr. Harrington hadn’t been any better. Ned had asked Harrington about Peter on the Raft, but Harrington had clammed up so badly that he’d dropped the subject. It was terrible. The whole situation was terrible. 

“There’s not much else we can do.” Ned told her, but this just made her more angry. Surely there was more they could do. There must be something out there that they could do to make this go quickly. 

“I always knew that the system was bullshit, but this is just ridiculous. They’re clearly abusing a teenage boy, but no one is doing anything about it.” MJ ranted, frustrated at the lack of movement on any side of the legal debate. 

“That’s not necessarily true. People watched that video yesterday, and Peter’s support is shooting through the roof. The amount of people who now believe he didn’t do anything in comparison to a few days ago has jumped significantly.” Ned reassured her, but even he knew it wasn’t reassuring, “this is just exposing this whole thing for the mess that it truly is. Peter didn’t resist arrest, he didn't really resist in the courtroom, and he definitely didn’t resist when they electrocuted him, and by the looks on his arms and face, he’s not resisting at all.”

“Yeah, because he was told not to,” MJ snapped back.

“But don’t you see? He could fight back. Those cuffs are nothing for him, he could snap them whenever he felt like. Peter is stronger than Captain America, MJ. Those cuffs are not designed for people like him. People know that.” Ned continued, “they can see that he’s not resisting, and it’s exposing the government and the Raft for what it truly is.”

“I know.” MJ replied, she didn’t like losing her head over this as she was normally calm and knew what to expect, but this was something new. 

“Do you want to know what scares me?” Ned asked after a beat of silence.

“What?” MJ asked.

“Is how much Peter thinks he probably deserves this. He’s always blamed everything on himself. It makes me wonder how much he’s blaming himself for this.” Ned told her, and MJ saw the vulnerability in his eyes. 

She knew what he said was true. Peter and her didn’t have as long a history as Peter and Ned. Ned had been through everything with Peter. Ned had been through Peter’s uncle Ben. Ned had been through Tony Stark with Peter. She felt she hardly knew Peter at all in that moment. 

  
  
  


Neil sat opposite Peter, he observed him slightly, noting the bandage around Peter’s arm.

“How’d you get that?” Neil asked him, pointing towards the bandage.

“I fell.” Peter mumbled, looking up to the cameras in the room.

“Sure,” Neil responded, and knew that Peter might not tell him for fear of further punishment.

“Is everyone okay?” Peter asked, turning his gaze directly onto Neil, and Neil suddenly saw the maturity in his eyes. Here was Peter Parker, seventeen years old, but his eyes held a weight beyond his years. There was the same weight he sometimes saw in Tony when Tony was at his lowest. 

“Yes, everyone is fine. They worry about you, obviously.” Neil told him, keeping his eyes on Peter. 

“How much longer am I going to have to be here for?” Peter asked, his voice vulnerable. Neil could see Peter was beginning to suffer, and this was taking its toll on him. 

“I’m trying to make it go as fast as possible. We have all our evidence ready, and it’s all submitted. We’re just waiting on the judge to make up her mind.” Neil told him, “we need her schedule to be clear.”

“Oh,” Peter sighed, and it was like he’d lost all hope. 

“We are doing everything we can to make this fast. The government wants this done as soon as possible, too.” Neil explained to him.

“Why? So they can force me to stay here for the rest of my life?” Peter asked sarcastically.

“There’s no way that you’re going down for this, we have too much evidence to prove your innocence.” Neil reassured him. Over the course of his short visits here, he’d become attached to Peter. The boy had somehow managed to worm his way into Neil’s heart. 

“Will I ever be able to go back to school after this?” Peter asked suddenly, as if this was the one question that had been weighing him down.

“I’m not sure,” Neil answered him honestly. Peter’s school had been one of the lowest things on his long list of priorities for this case, but Neil looked at Peter and knew that it meant a lot to him.

“Tony and I talked about school a lot, especially after I turned down the Avengers the first time. We agreed I would keep my identity a secret because I wanted to be able to at least finish school. We even thought about revealing it after I finished college.” Peter explained, his eyes watering slightly as he thought back to all the conversations he’d had with Tony Stark about his education. 

“Of course. I’ll start talking to Morita if you’d like on the possibility of returning to your old school.” Neil informed him as he grabbed his pen and notebook and made notes to check up on Peter attending school.

“I know it’s going to be a problem because of who I am, but I just want to go to school.” Peter explained.

“And we will make sure you get there, Pete.” Neil reassured him, placing his pen down, “do you have any more questions?” 

“No.” Peter answered him.

“There is one thing that I would like to discuss with you.” Neil started slowly, “did Tony ever discuss the Sokovia Accords with you?”

“Not really. I know it’s why everyone was split, and why I fought Captain America in Germany. But, Tony always told me he had it covered.” Peter explained.

“Okay, that’s no worries.” Neil explained, “in theory, you should have signed them, but obviously with your identity being a secret, you would have needed to reveal your identity.”

“Right.” Peter answered. 

“The only thing they can really pin on you is the Sokovia Accords,” Neil continued, “but, I’ve been working on a deal with the judge, and obviously Pepper and her team are working on new things.”

“I’m not sure I’m following,” Peter interrupted confused.

“You may have to sign the Accords,” Neil informed him.

“Okay,” Peter agreed, but somehow it felt almost like he was agreeing to have his freedom taken away even if he was released from the Raft. 

“We’ll discuss it more next week.” Neil told him as he checked his watch and noted the time, “but don’t worry too much about it. We’ll go through everything together.” 

“Okay,” Peter answered and watched as a guard came into the room and knew his time was coming to an end.

“I’ll see you next week, Pete.” Neil reassured him, watching as Peter tensed at the sight of the guard, “Harrington will be here on Saturday, so make sure you do all your homework.” 

“I will.” Peter answered as he was pulled into a sitting position ready to be moved back into his cell. 

There was so much he wanted to tell Neil, but there were too many listening ears. He had to tell Neil what was happening here, and he needed to tell him quickly. He knew only one way to get through to Neil quickly, and he would be here on Saturday. 

  
  
  


May was sitting on the sofa in the communal space of the Avengers Compound. The space felt hardly used, despite her now having been here for the last 2 weeks. Occasionally, she saw other people entering and exiting the compound, other members of the Avengers, but no one really approached her. 

She could understand why. She was a mess. Only Pepper and Happy were speaking to her at the moment, and she did feel some gratitude to how they were keeping her updated on everything that was happening, and she was being as involved as she could be, but this whole world was very new and very different for her. But it was Peter. She felt like she should have been doing more to protect him and to help him.

The video from the school yesterday had upset her so much that she’d needed to step out of the room and had cried herself into a stupor. 

“May!” Happy shouted as he came running into the room. May turned to look at him, startled at how loud his call was. “We have a date. The trial is set for the fourteenth of September. Three weeks away."

“Oh, my god.” May shouted standing up to face Happy.

“They expect the trial to last two weeks, but it’ll be over. Peter could be home in five weeks time.” Happy smiled, his face flushed.

“That’s amazing.” May breathed as she turned to the TV.

“Pepper’s going to make a statement in 10 minutes.” Happy told her as he fussed with his phone.

“Have you told Ned and MJ?” She asked.

“I’m on it now.” He replied, his eyes darting back to his phone. This was it. They were going to bring Peter home soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> So, I finally got around to replying to everyone, so thank you for waiting so patiently for me to respond. I am really grateful that you take the time to leave me messages! 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, too! I feel like it's moving very quickly, but I also don't really want to slow it down. So, hopefully it's good for you, too! I like doing really brief glimpses into things, but this chapter does feel very jumpy. 
> 
> As a P.S. I don't think the blog mentioned does in fact exist, but if it does, then no copyright is intended. I legit just wrote it out, and didn't think of it until I was getting ready to post this...


	10. Chapter 10

“Good afternoon, Peter.” Roger Harrington greeted as Peter was led into his usual chair in their usual interview room at the Raft. This was his fourth visit now, and he sincerely hoped that Peter got out soon so he wouldn’t have to keep coming back here. He didn’t like being here at all. 

“Mr. Harrington,” Peter greeted as he held his hands out obediently for the guard to cuff him to the desk. 

Peter looked more tired than the last time Harrington had seen him. There were dark rims around his eyes, and Harrington swore that he looked skinnier. That wasn’t counting how irritated his neck was beginning to look around the corners of the collar and some of the bruising that Harrington could see peaking out. 

Harrington was worried.

“How have you been doing?” Harrington gently broached, clasping his fingers together on the desk. Since Peter had been consistently reminded about needing his hands visible at all times, Harrington had become self-conscious himself about hiding his hands. Now, he had his hands where someone could see them at all times.

“As good as I can get.” Peter answered, and Harrington believed him. Despite the fact that Peter had kept the Spider-Man element of his identity from everyone besides a few since its inception, Peter had never really lied about his feelings. His face had always been too open for lying about his feelings. Or at least that is what Harrington had always wanted to believe.

“Did you manage to do all your work?” Harrington questioned, looking at the piles of paperwork that had been brought in with Peter when he arrived at the interview room.

“Yeah, I have a lot of time for it.” Peter answered him, a grimace decorating his face.

“Was there anything difficult about the work?” Harrington checked, not that he didn’t believe that Peter couldn’t do it. Peter was a certifiable genius. Harrington had seen him work when he put his mind to something. He knew this would be easy for Peter. 

“No.” Peter answered, as he looked around the room more closely as he sometimes did in their two hours together. “the creative writing part was the hardest for me.”

Harrington looked directly at Peter, and saw the way Peter focused his eyes on Harrington, a message trying to be conveyed. 

“Ah, really?” Harrington answered, “creative writing has never been my strong point either.”

He’d never set any creative writing work. Harrington had been sure of it. 

“Yeah, Pepper really likes reading and she always asks to read over my stuff before I hand it in.” Peter told him, his eyes returning to their roam around the room.

“I’ll make sure she gets a chance to see it,” Harrington reassured him, knowing that whatever that piece was, he knew it was important and he needed to get it to Pepper Potts.

“Thank you, I know she’s going to really laugh at it.” Peter informed him, and Harrington knew that there was an element of truth in it. He suddenly felt like he was part of some CIA mission and Peter was his latest informant giving him valuable information. 

“Can I ask a question, Peter?” Harrington asked suddenly as he moved his glasses up the bridge of his nose. 

“Sure,” Peter answered, returning his eyes to Harrington.

“Why did you become Spider-Man?” Harrington asked simply, “why did you decide to risk your life every day as a fourteen year old?”

“Because it is my duty to help out those in need.” Peter started, but even to Harrington he knew it sounded like a lie. Peter sighed, “my uncle was shot right in front of me. I had my powers, but I couldn’t help him. I froze up and my uncle paid the price of me being a coward. I knew I had to do something to stop that from happening to anyone ever again. I can’t just stand by and watch people get hurt when I know I can stop it. There’s so many people hurting out there, and if I can help them and take some of the burden for them, then I know I’m doing something right.”

“That’s very wise.” Harrington answered him after a while, but if he was honest with himself, he didn’t know what to say. He knew no seventeen year old should have such a drastic worldview.

“Did you know I turned down the Avengers the first time?” Peter suddenly asked him, a smile playing on his lips as he remembered the event.

“No.” Harrington answered.

“As much as I wanted to be an Avenger at first, I realised I wanted to help out the little people more. That was where I did best.” Peter told him with a wisdom beyond his years, “I became an Avenger on a runaway alien spaceship on my way to an unknown planet to face off against the biggest villain known to human history. That is something that’s going to stick with me forever, and is always going to be the reason I keep fighting. I was given these powers for a reason, and I’m going to use them to help people.”

Harrington stopped to study the boy in front of him, and Harrington believed he had never been in so much awe as he had in this moment. His Peter Parker who worried about every test they had, who always gave his 110% in everything. The boy who had given up everything and had lost so much more than the next person, a person who had seen the darkness the world had to offer and still held so much determination for the world. 

Harrington felt tears well into his eyes, but he wasn’t going to cry here. Peter didn’t deserve to see him cry after everything he was put through.

“I have a question for you.” Peter suddenly announced breaking the silence of the room.

“Sure,” Harrington answered.

“When this is all over, will I be allowed back to Midtown?” Peter asked innocently.

“I will personally make sure you’re allowed back to Midtown,” Harrington told him, and he knew for sure he would not let Peter down, and he would fight tooth and nail for Peter to roam the halls of Midtown again.

Harrington’s answer seemed to take weight off Peter’s shoulders and he smiled at Harrington.

“Great, let’s get studying then, right?” Peter questioned as he pulled Harrington’s work packet closer to himself to read through.

Harrington nodded, blinking back the tears as he started reading the material to Peter. This was his calling. He couldn’t save anyone, but he could teach and he was going to be the best teacher for Peter.    
  


Pepper Potts stared at the work that had been handed over to her. Harrington, Peter’s school teacher, had been pretty insistent she had it. He had told her that Peter insisted that she read over all of his creative writing work. The only problem was that she didn’t exactly know what she was looking at. 

_ The green leaves on the trees were beginning to turn brown. How the seasons had changed. Everyone loves to watch the seasons change. Yesterday, it feels like the spring was only just beginning. _

_ After the fall, the trees will lose their leaves. Remember how the spring smells? Everything smells so much better in the spring. _

_ Each year brings about a new winter. X-ray’s of the trees with only it’s branches on display. Perhaps, the winter is our new beginning. Eagerly, I wait for the turn of the seasons. Rejoicing in the new leaves in the spring. Ingrained are the smells of summer. Maybe, one day, the smells will join together. Each season joining at the beginning to form something new. New messages of spring, summer, fall and winter. Together, let’s go back to the beginning and find something new. Ingrained is each message of spring. Nothing is as it seems with the seasons. Gone are the days we once knew.  _

_ Over and over again the season begins. Never the same.  _

_ Perhaps, we need to spend more time looking together. Each beginning of a season is important. Outlooks change when we notice the change of season. Potential new things are discovered. Let’s find them together. Eternally, we shall face new beginnings.  _

Whilst Pepper agreed that it was a good effort at writing, she wasn’t entirely certain what she was looking at. 

“Hey, Happy.” Pepper called after staring at the writing for a while. She was sure that there was more to this. Peter had never asked her to check homework for him before. The only person he'd ever asked for homework help from was Tony, and that was never for creative writing. She wasn't even sure Peter took a creative writing course to begin with. 

“Yeah?” Happy asked as he entered the room.

“Read over this, and see if you can find something I’m missing out on.” Pepper told him as she leaned back in her chair.

She watched as Happy picked up the paper and calmly read through it.

“One thing’s for sure,” Happy said after a while.

“Yeah?” Pepper urged.

“The kid has no hope as a writer. The sentences are all over the place.” Happy told her and Pepper found herself sighing.

“What do you think it could mean?” Pepper asked.

“Other than Peter’s obsessed with seasons and beginnings, I have no idea.” Happy told her. 

“We might need to get new people on this. Do we have his friends phone numbers?” Pepper asked.

“I have Ned’s.” Happy informed her. 

“Great, get them over here. If there’s anyone who’ll understand Peter it will be them. Peter gave us this paper for a reason, I’m sure of it.” Pepper ordered, and watched as Happy got on the phone to Ned. They were lucky in a sense that it was still Saturday. Harrington had been insistent on bringing it to her as soon as he got back from the Raft. 

“I’m gonna go and pick them up. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Happy informed her. 

In a sense, she had been glad to have moved back into the compound temporarily whilst all this was happening. It had taken a lot for her to even rebuild the place, and it wasn’t nearly as grand as it once had been, but it was there, because she knew deep down even without her husband, someone would need it eventually. She hardly pictured that person being herself. 

Whilst she waited, she walked to the communal kitchen to make herself tea. She briefly caught Rhodey up on everything that was happening, but she found herself at a loose end. May had gone away for the day, saying she was going to visit a few friends in the city. It had been cute to her watching Happy and May fumble around each other. Pepper could see they were still trying to work things out, and she was glad to see someone entering Happy’s life. He deserved someone great, and she was curious to see how it would all play out.

As the skies began to darken in the distance, Happy entered the kitchen with the two kids in tow. 

“Good evening.” Pepper greeted as she stood up to meet them. They hadn’t seen each other since Peter’s hearing, and Pepper quickly assessed them to make sure they would be up for whatever they were about to do.

“Happy said Peter left something for you?” The girl, MJ as Pepper remembered, started. This was the girl Pepper remembered Peter mentioning, even as far back as when Tony was still here. She remembered how Peter would gush over her, and how he’d come back from his trip with her as his girlfriend. Tony would have been proud of him. 

“Yes, come this way.” Pepper replied, a smile passing over her face. She felt an ache settle into her chest, knowing that Tony would have solved this on his own. 

Pepper quickly checked her phone, knowing that there wasn’t much time until Morgan came back from her nanny, before she settled back into the conference room. 

“Okay, here it is.” Pepper indicated the paper, “read through it and let me know what you think.”

Both teens nodded and a look of determination crossed their faces. This was the beginning of something big, Pepper could feel it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hm, I wonder if anyone can figure it out? 
> 
> I debated on whether to post anything or not tonight, cause this last week has been insane (I broke my toe), and I haven't really had the motivation to write anything. So, I think I'm not going to post anything next week so I can catch up on writing. This fic is catching up on what I'd prewritten really quickly, so I need to get a little bit ahead again. Though, I think I know how I'm going to finish this all now!
> 
> Thank you to everyone for sticking around! I'll see you in two weeks :)


	11. Chapter 11

Ned and MJ stared down at the paper, their faces intense as they read through each line carefully.

“I can tell you one thing.” Ned started, “and that’s Peter’s never written like this before.”

“Yeah, honestly, Peter likes reading, but he’s never been much of a writer.” MJ agreed, but she could see there was something there.

“He talks about the beginnings a lot.” Ned added, “that’s got to mean something.”

“Happy and I agreed that, too, but we can’t decide what it means.” Pepper informed them, turning to look at Happy who was standing to the other side of the teens.

“How did Peter even get this out of the Raft?” MJ asked, “I thought nothing came out of the Raft.”

“Well, Roger Harrington brought it. He said it was Peter’s homework.” Pepper sighed, “we can only assume that everything was read by the guards before he was allowed to bring it out of the Raft.”

“Wow never pictured Harrington as much of a smuggler.” Ned laughed to himself. 

“Has there been any other news about Peter?” MJ asked, her eyes taking on a different light.

“Not really. Neil said he was managing.” Pepper told her.

“And what about that extradition order?” MJ asked, knowing that the UK had asked for Peter to be handed over.

“We’re working on it. Honestly, if he gets cleared here, he shouldn’t have to face anything in the UK.” Pepper answered. The UK were being a little pushy, but if it turns out he was there on Avengers business and he gets cleared, then Peter should be okay. They were working on it. 

“Okay,” MJ sighed as she turned back to the paper and read it once more. Peter had never appeared to be one for subtlety. He made everything obvious, there was nothing to hide. 

“Wait.” Ned suddenly shouted from his perch.

“What?” Happy asked quickly.

“The beginnings.” Ned started as he turned to look at MJ. MJ seemed to receive the message.

“The sentences.” MJ breathed. 

Ned grabbed a clean sheet of paper and wrote the beginnings of the sentences down.

_ The. _

_ How. _

_ Everyone. _

_ Yesterday. _

_ After. _

_ Remember. _

_ Everything. _

_ Each. _

_ X-ray _

_ Perhaps. _

_ Eagerly. _

_ Rejoicing. _

_ Ingrained. _

_ Maybe. _

_ Each. _

_ New. _

_ Together. _

_ Ingrained. _

_ Nothing. _

_ Gone. _

_ Over. _

_ Never. _

_ Perhaps. _

_ Each. _

_ Outlooks. _

_ Potential. _

_ Let’s. _

_ Eternally. _

“The. How. Everyone. Yesterday. After. Remember. Everything. Each. X-ray. Perhaps. Eagerly. Rejoicing. Ingrained. Maybe. Each. New. Together. Ingrained. Nothing. Gone. Over. Never. Perhaps. Each. Outlooks. Potential. Let’s. Eternally.” Pepper read. 

“It still doesn’t make sense.” Happy reasoned, feeling even more confused than before. 

“There’s got to be more to it.” MJ argued. “Peter wouldn’t force this on us for no reason.”

“Peter doesn’t even take creative writing.” Ned agreed, his eyes scanning the words, and looking at the list of writing he had made.

The room fell into a silence for what felt like an age, but Ned’s eyes hadn’t left the list. There was something bugging him about the way he’d written the list. 

He quickly grabbed the pen and made a new list.

“What’re you doing?” MJ asked suddenly, but Ned ignored her.

_ T _

_ H _

_ E _

_ Y _

_ A _

_ R _

_ E _

_ E _

_ X _

_ P _

_ E _

_ R _

_ I _

_ M _

_ E _

_ N _

_ T _

_ I _

_ N _

_ G _

_ O _

_ N _

_ P _

_ E _

_ O _

_ P _

_ L _

_ E _

“Does that say what I think it says?” Pepper asked looking at the new list Ned had made. 

“What the hell, Peter.” MJ sighed looking at the list.

“They are experimenting on people.” Happy read aloud. 

Pepper was stumped. She didn’t know what to do. What could she do in this situation?

“Happy.” Pepper called, “get Neil on the phone.”

Happy nodded as he left the room quickly to make the call.

“What’re we going to do?” Ned asked timidly, his eyes wide and vulnerable. 

Pepper pursed her lips. She wasn’t entirely certain what to say to them. There was no way she could say she didn’t know what they were going to do. 

“Neil is on his way here. He’ll be here in 30 minutes.” Happy informed her as he walked back into the room. 

Pepper turned to look outside the room and the darkening skies. She could feel a headache coming on, and knew she definitely needed a nice strong coffee.

“Mommy!” a squeal pierced through the room as Morgan and May came barging into the room. Pepper had been expecting Morgan, but not May. 

“Hi, sweetie.” Pepper greeted, wrapping her daughter up in her arms.

“What’s going on?” May asked, eyeing the two kids in the room.

“We got a message from Peter.” Happy started as May stormed across the room and looked at the paper in front of Ned and MJ.

“They are experimenting on people?” May read out slowly, her voice raising to a question, “what does that mean?”

“We can only assume the worst at the moment.” MJ quipped, “Peter left nothing else.”

“Neil is on his way.” Pepper informed her, “we’ve only just worked it out. We would have told you otherwise.”

May didn’t respond to Pepper, her eyes going back to the paper in her hand. The group fell back into a silence as they waited for Neil to arrive. 

Morgan entertained herself as she ran around the room.

“None of this can leave the room.” Pepper suddenly instructed.

“Why?” MJ questioned, raising her voice suddenly. 

“If the Raft figure out that Peter told us something, then they’ll punish him more.” Pepper reasoned, “we already knew that they were doing more to him than they were telling us. We weren’t stupid enough to buy their stories about him falling. So, we just carry on as normal for the public.”

“But if we told someone then we could get him out of there faster.” MJ argued, a fierce look crossing her face. 

“I don’t like him being there as much as the next person,” Pepper told her, picking up Morgan as she ran to her mother’s arms, “but we can’t risk endangering Peter like that. He has two weeks left, then we’re arranging that he gets held in a prison closer to the courthouse just for each for the duration of the trial, then he’ll be free.”

  
  
  


Flash had always believed that being a superhero was the coolest job ever. When he’d been a child, he’d dreamed of becoming something invincible, someone who took down the bad guys and saved the day. But, the last few weeks had proved to him that being a superhero wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. 

_ “Footage of the deadly battle at the Avengers Compound has been leaked on the controversial website The Daily Bugle. The leaked footage contains images primarily seen through Peter Parker’s perspective, but there are also some shots from other heroes video footage. The Daily Bugle has not credited who leaked the footage, and Stark Industries said the leak does not come from them and claim they are currently investigating the leak. We would like to warn the viewers that the following footage may be distressing for some viewers.”  _ A male news anchor recited as video footage of a war began to play. 

Flash thought he knew it all until he watched Peter Parker run through the battlefield. He thought he knew it all until Tony Stark hugged Peter and as Peter fought alongside the Avengers. Some shots showed Peter in the mask, some showed him without as he ran through the battleground carrying the Infinity Gauntlet. Flash thought he knew it all until he watched Peter Parker almost get pulverised and be saved by Captain Marvel. 

Flash had chuckled briefly as Peter introduced himself briefly, but had almost broken down at the way Peter had sobbed when Tony Stark had died. 

Being a superhero, Flash decided, was not as fun as everyone had made it seem. Flash remembered the way Peter had come back after the Blip. The way he’d looked. How pale and twitchy he’d been. He’d been grieving. No, Flash thought, Peter had been traumatised. Peter Parker had been sixteen years old. Peter had been sixteen years old, but had fought in one of the worst battles in history. 

Flash didn’t know what to do with the video that had been displayed in front of him. There was so much going on, but one thing he was sure of was that this footage was never supposed to be played for everyone to see. 

Flash turned to his phone, seeing the way the screen had lit up with various notifications. Some of them from classmates, some from news sources he’d put on alert for anything relating to Peter. Everyone was going crazy with the release of the video. 

_ “The video footage is indeed distressing,” _ a female news anchor agreed, guiding Flash’s attention back to the television,  _ “but it also raises the question of how was a teenager allowed to fight in this battle in the first place? Why were there no questions asked? Clearly people knew who he was and how young he was.” _

_ “Excellent points, Maria. Stark clearly had a hand in this, as we found out that Peter had an internship at Stark Industries.” _ The male agreed as he nodded his head seriously. 

Flash tuned them out, not wanting them to turn it into another Tony Stark hate fest. Flash knew Peter, he knew that Peter wouldn’t have stopped even if someone had told him to sit on the sidelines. 

“Holy shit,” Flash whispered to himself as the news sunk in. 

Flash picked up his phone, and scrolled through his group chats that were lighting up with so many notifications. 

He found the person he was looking for.

_ Would you have stopped him if you knew this was what he was putting himself through? _

Flash waited, knowing that the other person was probably busy. 

_ I don’t know _

Flash didn’t know what to make of that answer. 

_ It’s not so cool when you see it for yourself. _

The answer came quicker this time. 

_ Peter has helped so many people. I’ll always be there to help him, no matter how scary the situation is.  _

Flash didn’t know what to do with that.    
  


Ned stared as his phone, not knowing whether he should expect a response. He remembered the way he and Peter had cried that first day back in school. He remembered snapping back into existence and not knowing what had happened. All he remembered was that Peter had disappeared on a spaceship, and that he was terrified. He didn’t know what had happened to Peter. 

He remembered staring at his phone waiting for anything from Peter. He remembered turning on the news and hearing about Tony Stark’s death. He remembered hearing them talking about Spider-Man’s bravery. He’d felt relief, but fear. Fear for his best friend who had already given up so much. 

Ned remembered the way they’d both cried when they’d reunited at school. Ned had been unable to control his emotions at seeing the friend he wasn’t sure he’d ever see again. 

He remembered how jumpy Peter had been and the way Peter wouldn’t talk about the battle. Ned had known not to question it or to pry. The same way he’d never gotten the full story out of Peter about what had happened with Liz’s father. There were some aspects of Peter’s super hero activities that Ned knew not to question. 

This was one of those moments. 

Ned remembered the way he’d felt relieved as Peter had started to seem more like himself. The way he was beginning to focus on new things. The way he’d focused on MJ and his crush and Ned had felt some relief that he was starting something new. He’d teased Peter a little, and things seemed to go back to normal, until Europe happened. Ned would be the first to admit he hadn’t been the best of friends in Europe. He’d taken Peter for granted, but he hadn’t known what else to do. His friend was one of the Earth’s saviours. Surely he could solve whatever was happening there? 

But, he’d seen the videos, too. But, despite all that, Ned knew Peter was still the coolest person ever. The only person he knew that hung out with the Avengers, and got to live the life Ned had always dreamed of. He would never stop Peter from being who he was. Peter had been Ned’s hero way before Spider-Man, and Ned would continue to support him whichever way he could. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! I hope everyone has been keeping well. I didn't actually manage to write as much as I'd hoped. My life these days is always so busy, and I have a Korean language exam coming up in like a month that's really stressing me out, so I'm kind of focused on that..
> 
> I hope this chapter was worth the wait! I saw a few people figured it out, and that makes me happy! But also a little sad that I didn't make the message harder TT.TT


	12. Chapter 12

MJ had complained about being at school countless times in the past, but she’d never really meant it. Despite all of her pretences, she did enjoy school on some level. But today was the start of Peter’s trial, and unlike his hearing where he pleaded, she wasn’t on vacation.

Whilst her boyfriend was going to start one of the biggest moments of his life, she was going to be stuck in class unable to help him. She didn’t like to be left out of the loop, and despite May’s insistence that she would keep her and Ned updated about everything, she knew she couldn’t rely so heavily on May to give them everything.

Until Peter had been arrested, MJ had barely even met May. Their paths had never really had a reason to cross, so she also felt a little awkward relying so much on someone she knew so little.

MJ sighed as she stared up at the building in front of her, its doors appearing as uninviting as they ever had. She looked down to her phone and scrolled through the updates she’d missed as she’d arrived at the school. Peter had been moved to a closer prison in the late hours of the night and there were new photos of him circulating the internet. She hated the way he seemed to have lost more weight since they’d seen him in the school a few weeks prior. 

She cringed as she remembered the words Peter had snuck out to them two weeks ago. Neil had assured them that he was starting something and had managed to slip a confirmation to Peter that they’d received the message. Neil said he’d looked relieved, but MJ was angry that he’d cared more about sneaking the message out to them more than protecting his own safety. He was thinking of other people before himself.

MJ met up with Ned by his locker, and they both acknowledged each other quietly. Ned had the same look on his face that MJ was sure she was sporting. They both hated that they couldn’t be there today. They knew they were going to be there on Friday as they had to stand as witnesses. The whole class who’d been in Europe had been called to appear as witnesses on Friday. It had taken a lot of organising with the school, but the teachers had prepared packets ready for them to complete on the weekend so they wouldn’t miss too much of their classes and obviously they’d found a replacement for Harrington for the day. 

But until Friday, she was stuck. She was an island floating in the middle of an ocean with nothing surrounding her. 

“Peter’s supposed to arrive at 9am.” Ned said uselessly to fill the quiet that surrounded them as they made their way to their first class.

“Yeah,” MJ agreed, “I wonder why it’s going to take them so long, like why does the trial need to be two weeks long?”

“I don’t know.” Ned shrugged, “they probably take six million coffee breaks a day.”

MJ snorted as they settled into their chairs. The one in front of her was still empty. It was Peter’s seat, and it showed that the school was hopeful that Peter would come back some day. 

“Good morning, class.” Their teacher, Mrs Underground greeted as the bell rang. A few stragglers slammed through the door as she went to close it, and MJ smiled a little remembering Peter doing the same a few times. 

When no one answered her, Mrs Underground sighed and turned on the projector.

“I know this next two weeks are going to be hard for all of us,” She started, clasping her hands in front of her, “Peter is a valued member of Midtown, and we’re all anxious for his return to our class.”

Her direct admission of her thoughts surprised MJ. The teachers, barring Harrington and their principal had taken a more neutral stance in regards to Peter’s case. 

“So, the school has decided to take a more approachable route to our classes until the trial is over.” She continued, “it’s not really something we’d encourage, but we live in uncertain times.”

“What are we going to do?” Flash asked from his corner of the room, and MJ saw a look pass between Ned and Flash and wondered what was going on between the two of them. They hadn’t been the same since the video of the war had been leaked online.

“Until the conclusion of the trial, Midtown has decided that we’re going to be splitting our classes. We’re going to spend the last twenty minutes of each class catching up on the trial.” Mrs Underground explained and MJ felt her jaw drop. She was sure Harrington had something to do with this. Since the trip to Europe and his visits to Peter in the Raft, he’d become more outspoken in Peter’s defence. 

MJ had tried to get something about the Raft out of him once, but he’d not budged. He’d clammed up, and said he had somewhere else to be, but MJ had seen the look on his face. He knew that Harrington had hated it there. MJ couldn’t wait for this whole experience to be over and so that Peter could be back with them once more. 

The class had subsequently passed very quickly, and before any of them knew what was happening, the teacher was loading the livestream of the trial on the projectors. It had been decided that the trial was going to be streamed all over the globe, the press had fought to be allowed into the courtroom, and this seemed to be the best solution to everyone’s troubles. 

The trial had already started by the time everything had been loaded, and MJ breathed slightly. There, to the left hand side of the screen, sitting next to Neil sat Peter. MJ wanted to cry at the sight of him shackled so heavily, of the collar still resting lightly against his neck. A warning to him not to try anything. Behind him stood three guards, and MJ knew they were guards from the Raft just by looking at them. 

MJ breathed heavily through her mouth. This was it. This was Peter’s trial. 

  
  
  


Peter stared out at the jury that would be deciding his faith, and thought he may stand a chance. It had taken them all morning to find a jury that could sit for his trial. They needed to find unbiased jurors, which proved to be difficult when Peter had interacted with so many people as Spider-Man. But, here they were, the twelve people that would decide his future.

It almost felt unfair to be sitting here. He hadn’t even done anything wrong, but people had been so quick to judge him. Neil had reassured him consistently that there were more people on his side than he realised, but sitting in the courtroom shackled like he was made him question Neil’s judgement. 

Behind him he could feel May’s worried gaze, and he so wished he could turn around and comfort her, but the guards surrounding him would definitely hurt him. They’d become more liberal with their use of his collar as his trial had been drawing closer, and he swore he could still feel the tremors running through his body. 

That didn’t even count the other stuff they’d put him through, but he couldn’t even think about that right now. 

The judge in front of him babbled on to the jury about their duties and how they were expected to behave over the coming weeks. How they were supposed to be fair, and he could see them looking over to him occasionally and he was trying to ignore it, but there was a feeling of humiliation growing through him, and he hated the fact that his life had become a spectacle. 

When he’d first met Tony he would have done everything to have had all eyes on him. He so badly wanted to be an Avenger and work alongside all of his heroes. After everything with Toomes, he’d decided he wasn’t ready for it. This proved true again after Thanos, and he had finally gained his balance. He felt like he was finally coming to terms with everything that had happened to him, and then this happened.

He couldn’t stop it from happening, but it felt like everything that had happened in his life hadn’t been his own choice and someone was playing a great massive joke on him. 

Before he knew it, the courtroom was being called to lunch, and Peter could hardly believe it had already been three hours. 

“What do we do for lunch?” Peter whispered to Neil as he stood from his seat. The guards around him shifted, he could hear the creaks in their guns and the rustle of their clothes. 

“We get a room just behind this room and we can eat there.” Neil informed him as he was led from the room, the guards following so closely, Peter was surprised they didn’t trip over his feet. 

“I’m not sure I can eat anything.” Peter admitted as Neil opened the door in front of them and led Peter and the guards inside. 

Inside the room, Peter’s eyes immediately zoned in on one person. Standing by the buffet was May, dressed in a smart dress and her hair was hanging loosely from her head. Peter felt his eyes welling up with tears. He hadn’t been this close to May in so long, he longed to run to her and hug her tightly and never let her go. 

The second he entered the room, May’s eyes found his, and he could see her brimming with tears, too. 

“Can we get the cuffs off for lunch, please?” Neil ordered the guards, who pretended like they couldn’t hear him, “come on, he can’t eat like that and you know he’s not going to try anything.”

The guards didn’t say anything and Peter sighed as he began walking towards May. He ignored everyone else in the room, it was like he had tunnel vision and May was the only salvation in the place. 

“May,” he whimpered as he reached her. May immediately held his face in her hands, and began wiping away his tears with her thumbs, her fingers scratching through his hair in a way that she knew he liked. It reminded him so much of simpler times. 

“Baby,” May whispered, her gaze locked onto his. 

“I missed you,” he whispered to her, wishing he could wrap his arms around her, but he knew he couldn’t. 

“I missed you so much, Pete, you wouldn’t even believe it.” May whispered to him as she leaned forward and kissed his forehead. Peter stood there and breathed in her scent. Let his body relax for the first time in forever. Being this close to May reminded him that everything would be okay one day, and that not everything was as bad as what the Raft made him believe it was going to be.

“Pete.” Peter opened his eyes quickly, and turned to face him. Standing on the side just out of his field of vision was Happy and Pepper. 

“Happy,” Peter answered, a smile forming on his face. 

“You look like shit,” Happy told him, a wicked grin forming on his face.

“Not as bad as you,” Peter retorted and he felt himself being led to a table and food placed in front of him. Which he began to nibble at despite his body protesting that he was not hungry.

“How do you think it’s going?” Peter asked as they all settled with their food.

“It’s still early, but I’m confident that we’re going to win this.” Neil told him, and Pepper nodded her agreement.

“They have nothing. Neil’s been through all the evidence they submitted and there’s no way they’ll be able to win this one. The jury would be crazy to believe you did anything wrong.” Pepper added. Peter wanted to believe her so bad, but he’d seen some bad things on the Raft. He’d experienced so much wrong with the world lately and he knew now to expect the unexpected and know that there was something around the corner all the time.

“I wish I had the same confidence.” Peter admitted to her, looking at everyone on the table, looking at his cuffed hands that were making it awkward to eat the food that he was trying to put down his throat.

“You will soon.” May told him as she ran her fingers through his hair like there was no other option in the world, like she believed with all her heart that this would be the end of all their troubles. Peter couldn’t help but feel the doubt. This was never going to be the end. This was only the beginning. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no speak! 
> 
> I feel like I'm always apologising for not uploading when I said I would do, but I don't know, everything in my life is so busy these days. 
> 
> Since I started this fic, I've changed jobs, moved across the country, started making new friends, then there's been so much going on back home. I broke my toe (which is doing a lot better now), I have loads of parent teacher conferences and so on. A lot of this is just me being whiney, but I don't want you guys to feel like I'm giving up, because I'm determined to finish, even if it takes until the release of the next movie TT.TT
> 
> Anyways, I hope you like this chapter! I feel like things are starting to pick up now!

**Author's Note:**

> Follow my [tumblr](https://happydogday.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
